Teen passenger, killed in crash at Vanscoy, wanted to be a DJ
Matthew Stronach was planning a trip to the mountains with his father and aunt. He had plans of becoming a radio DJ after high school.
But his family is grieving and at a loss, after Matthew died Wednesday in a crash at an intersection in Vanscoy, southwest of Saskatoon.
The teen was in the passenger seat of a pickup that was waiting to turn left off the highway in Vanscoy, when the truck was struck by a semi.
Matthew, a student at Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon, died at the scene. His 17-year-old girlfriend, who was driving, was still in hospital Thursday.
“It’s so hard,” Ryan Stronach, Matthew’s father, told CKOM Radio in an interview. “I just talked with him two days ago and he was very excited. He was looking at getting his first job.”
The teen had a passion for music and was looking forward to getting into the radio industry once he completed Grade 12, his father said.
“Music was always a big part of his personality,” he said. “He loved to converse with people and talk about all kinds of things, and he was interested in radio to make that (his career).”
Matthew lived with his mother, but his father said he and his son had been developing a stronger relationship and had taken cycling trips near Prince Albert in the fall.
They had plans to do more travelling this year.
“We were able to spend some time way out in the forest and enjoy a little bit of a camping trip,” Stronach said.
“It was a prelude of what was going to follow this summer. We were planning trips into the mountains with his auntie.”
The cause of the collision hasn’t been determined by RCMP.
Stronach said his son and the teen’s girlfriend were waiting to turn left when a truck hauling a trailer tried to swerve out of their way and clipped the back end of their pickup.
That sent them into the eastbound lanes, where a double-trailer semi hit them.
“It was just a pure accident,” Stronach said. “No one meant to do this.”
He suggested the driver of the truck that clipped the pickup did everything he could to avoid a collision.
“He had some weight behind him (in the trailer) ... The truck driver didn’t see them until it was a little too late.”
Stronach, who is based in Humboldt, said he’s having a difficult time figuring out what to do following his son’s death.
“Just lost,” he said. “Everybody wants to help and support, but I don’t even know how to ask for help.”