Driver on drugs hits and kills bicyclist on sidewalk, cops say

Gerard “Gerry” Allard was riding his bicycle along a sidewalk on a Saturday afternoon and was nearly home when a woman on drugs drove her Jeep onto the sidewalk and struck him, Coconut Creek police said.

Allard was a 73-year-old French-Canadian who spent winters in South Florida. The crash happened March 24 in the 6800 block of Northwest 39th Avenue, and he died a week later.

Sandra Duval, 34, of Tamarac, was arrested Thursday. She is accused of driving while under the influence of cocaine and fentanyl, based on test results from a sample of her blood, an arrest report said.

For the past five years, Gerry Allard and his wife were snowbirds from northwestern Quebec who would spend about six months each year at the Tallowwood Isles community in Coconut Creek.

“He was coming home from the gym on the day he was killed and was practically home,” his wife, Evelynn Simard, said Monday from Canada. She said he was riding on the sidewalk.

The Allards live in Val-d’Or, or the Valley of Gold, a mining town that is 400 miles northwest of Montreal. Allard was a surveyor for a mining company until he retired.

“He loved South Florida,” Simard said. “He loved the beach at Deerfield Beach, and the sun, and running away from winter.”

The couple were married 51 years and had three adult sons and nine grandchildren who all live in Canada.

Allard was a competitive amateur athlete all of his life, and was a runner and played on football, hockey and softball teams in their district in Canada, Simard said.

“He was hard to keep up with,” she said.

The day Allard was struck by Duval’s yellow Jeep Renegade, she had first crashed into two unattended vehicles in the parking lot of the Adios Golf Club at 7740 NW 39th Ave.

Duval did not tell the owners and drove away, police said.

The Jeep was speeding as it traveled south along Northwest 39th Avenue and did not stop for a red light at West Hillsboro Boulevard, a witness told police.

After striking Allard, the Jeep crashed into a tree, police said.

Paramedics took Duval to Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach, where she was

treated for a minor injury to her left shin.

While in a trauma room, police said Duval fell asleep multiple times during an interview and, at one point, “spontaneously uttered that she was involved in a crash and that she hit a bike,” the report said.

Duval admitted to the crashes at the golf club and with Allard, police

said.

She also told investigators she had used heroin about 12 hours prior to the fatal collision, according to the report.

On Saturday, one of Allard’s grandchildren dedicated her cross-country race to her late grandfather on what would have been his 74th birthday.

Many Tallowwood Isles residents knew Allard, his widow said. “He was very, very sociable. He would talk with everybody and

was handy and would help the neighbors.”

Simard shared photographs taken during their 50th wedding anniversary and from last December, when they attended a Miami Dolphins game with two of their sons.

“We sure miss him,” Simard said.

As for Duval’s arrest, Simard said, “I’m pleased to see that things in the case are moving along.”

On Friday afternoon, Broward County Judge Kim Theresa Mollica ordered Duval held without bond until she appears before her trial judge. Duval was also ordered to stay away from alcohol and intoxicants and to not drive.

She is charged with DUI manslaughter while impaired; vehicular homicide; two counts of DUI property damage while impaired; and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.