Kemptville-area man hit and killed by vehicle
A 63-year-old North Grenville municipal worker who was one year away from retirement was killed while walking home from the Kemptville Legion on Saturday night.
Waste site superintendent Gary Boal had enjoyed a couple of drinks after a fishing derby with his friends and decided to walk home instead of driving because he thought it would be safer.
Ontario Provincial Police confirmed on Sunday that Boal was struck by a westbound vehicle when the group — including Boal’s girlfriend, his son Jason, and his son’s girlfriend — walked along County Rd. 43 on the bridge crossing Kemptville Creek at around 10 p.m.
“The ladies had walked across highway 43 on the bridge. There’s no lights, no sidewalks, barely nothing. They made it across fine and they believe that Gary thought it was clear and when he went to step out a white SUV hit him,” said his good friend and neighbour Genny Marlatt, who said her neighbours heard the crash from blocks away.
She said Boal’s son Jason tried to perform CPR on him but there was nothing he could do. Emergency responders arrived and took Boal by ambulance to Kemptville District Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Marlatt said she introduced Boal to neighbour Diane Giliauskas seven years ago and it was love at first sight. She said losing such a good friend so suddenly is a shock, but what’s more upsetting is that she feels the collision could have been prevented.
She said Kemptville residents have for years implored the town to put lights and proper sidewalks on the bridge and along the road to make it safer for pedestrians.
“My kids can’t cross the road to go to town, so we have to drive them,” said Marlatt.
“It’s so dangerous. There’s no place to walk except along the side of ditch.”
Resident Jim Gibson, a colleague and close friend of Boal for more than 20 years, described him as “one of the kindest people in the world,” always ready to offer a helping hand.
Gibson said he was devastated to hear he had been killed by someone who “likely didn’t see him” on the notoriously dark highway.
“If that road was lit up the lady that was coming along probably would have spotted him sooner,” he said. Nobody is blaming her or anything. If she didn’t see him she didn’t see him.”
Even while laying flowers at the spot where Boal was killed was dangerous. Gibson had to stand close to the rushing single lane traffic that has a limit of 60 km/h, which is impossible to maintain because “people are always on your tail,” he said.
“The traffic is a nightmare, and there’s no sidewalks for the children, and the school is so close ... there’s no sidewalks on either sides of the highway at all.”
Police could not provide details about the driver. However a spokesperson for the area fire department said the driver was “traumatized by the event.”
Technical traffic investigators and a forensic identification team were at the scene on Sunday as the investigation continued.
Besides his son, Boal is also survived by his daughter Crystal.