Police hope the public can help them find a hit and run driver who put a 70-year-old woman in hospital and are thanking a man for stopping to help her.
Derrick Kalicum, 19, was late for his political studies class at Vancouver Island University Thursday when the aftermath of a car accident caught his attention.
The crash happened at the intersection of Wakesiah Avenue and Second Street shortly after 12:30 p.m., as the woman drove her grey 2007 Toyota Matrix through the intersection on a green light and was hit in the driver's door.
The driver of the other simply backed out of the wreck and continued east on Second Street, leaving the woman trapped in her car.
Kalicum saw the woman, who had no cellphone to call for help, waving frantically and blowing her car's horn to try and get people's attention.
"No one else was stopping," Kalicum said. "Cars were just flying by and other people were just standing and watching, but no one was really doing anything. I found it kind of ironic too, because I'm actually in a sociology class right now and I just had a quiz on bystander effect, so I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to flip around.'"
Kalicum spoke to the woman to reassure her and called 911.
He said no witnesses stopped, but another person had called 911 before leaving.
Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the woman was trying to summon help for about 10 minutes before Kalicum arrived.
The woman reportedly suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital.
Kalicum said an RCMP member called him later that day to thank him for helping the woman who, it turned out, was the constable's mother.
O'Brien said the suspect car likely sustained heavy front-end damage and was likely an older vehicle judging by the headlamp glass left behind at the crash scene.
The woman was unfortunately unable to provide a description of the suspect driver or anything other than a basic description of the vehicle that struck hers.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com.