Man accused of trying to kill girlfriend in crash

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman whose boyfriend had been ordered by the courts to stay away from her says she’s lucky to be alive after taking him back.

Shaylene Wilson, 22, walked away with cuts and bruises after he allegedly forced her into her car and drove the passenger side into a semi-trailer truck early Friday.

Wilson said the two were having fun ringing in the new year at a nightclub until they started arguing.

She said her boyfriend picked her up, carried her to her car and started driving.

Police said a suspect drove Wilson’s car into a parked semi, passenger side first, and then fled, while she screamed for help from the totalled car.

Wilson said she wants victims of domestic violence to hear her story.

“I knew I was going to die. I had no doubt in my mind I was dying,” Wilson said Monday.

She said she remembers opening her window and crying for help before paramedics came.

“I just remember repeating over and over, ‘I can move my feet. I can move my toes. I’m not paralyzed. I can move.’ ”

She believes her seatbelt saved her life.

“I put my seatbelt on probably two minutes before the crash. Intuition, I guess.”

Wilson is sore, and recovering at her mother’s house.

The suspect was charged with assaulting her four times last fall. None of the allegations has been proven in court.

One of the bail conditions was that the man not have any contact with Wilson. But she said she took him back a couple of weeks later.

“You want to think that things can get better,” Wilson said. “You’re blinded by love.”

Wilson is encouraging others not to stay in an abusive relationship because they believe the violence won’t escalate.

“We can’t keep waiting for it to get worse before you leave — because it doesn’t get better.”

Christopher Rutherford, 31, faces several charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping.