Publication date: July 29, 2022 • 4 hours ago • 3 minutes read • 13 comments The scene of a fatal crash at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 6th Street in New Westminster on July 27. Photo by Shane MacKichan /jpg

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A heartbroken East Vancouver family could not learn as of Thursday afternoon where their son’s body was or when they might be able to retrieve it for burial.

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As Muslims, their religion requires them to be buried as soon as possible, and their boy died Tuesday after his Toyota Yaris was hit by someone fleeing Metro Vancouver police. Olyad Suleiman – the legal name of the young man who goes by the name Samir Ali – had just graduated from Britannia Secondary School and had a $50,000 scholarship to attend the University of BC in the fall. He and an unidentified passenger were returning from soccer and were stopped at a red light when a Nissan Altima conducting a traffic control at 10th Avenue and 6th Street in New Westminster hit their car around 11 p.m. Suleiman and his fellow footballer/passenger were pronounced dead at Royal Columbian Hospital. Suleiman’s family, however, had yet to see their boy’s body, and did not know as of Thursday afternoon where their son’s body was.

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Olyad Suleiman (second from left) next to his mom, Chaltu (on his left) and his little sister on his right. The woman on the right is a friend. Olyad Suleiman was killed when the car he was in was hit by a vehicle fleeing Metro Vancouver police near the Burnaby-New Westminster border, July 27, 2022. Photo provided by family, Photo credit Abdi Suleiman. Photo by Abdi Suleiman /jpg “Nobody came to help them or even explain to the family what’s going on, where the son is,” Ariadne Armond, a neighbor of the Suleimans, said Thursday afternoon. “Mum is devastated, no victim services, no one came. “He was a very good kid, a very good example for the young people in the community.” Olyad was the eldest of seven children. The family lives in the Strathcona neighborhood after immigrating from Kenya six years ago. “The family only knows what they saw on the news,” Armond said. “They’re a nice family, just because they’re immigrants, they’re poor (they deserve answers), they have a very clean house and they’re very nice people.” The last contact Olyad’s family had with him was a phone conversation with his father around 10pm on Tuesday.

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“When his father called around 11, he went to voicemail,” said Olyad’s friend Abdi Ahmedyasin. By 1 a.m. Wednesday, the family was frantic. The scene of a fatal crash at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 6th Street in New Westminster on July 27. Photo by Shane MacKichan /jpg Vancouver police had told them to wait for news, but friends of Olyad joined the family as they first went to the police station on Cambie Street and then split up by taxi to cover hospital emergency rooms. “It wasn’t like Oliad who didn’t call,” Ahmadiasin said. “It wasn’t like it was that late out.” A group was on their way to the Edmonds Community Center in Burnaby to see if Olyad’s Toyota Yaris might be in the parking lot when they encountered officers at the scene of the accident and headed to the Royal Columbian. By then it was probably 3 or 4 a.m., Ahmedyasin said, and the family still couldn’t get information.

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“He was like, ‘We can’t tell you anything, just hang out, someone will come talk to you.’ Every hour we went back and the same.” A Nissan Altima had sped away when transit police tried to stop it Tuesday night, Const. Amanda Steed said in a press release after the fiery fatal crash. “A short time later, the vehicle was found engulfed in flames after causing a multi-vehicle collision,” the statement said. Seven ambulances and a supervisor responded to the crash on the New West-Burnaby border, BC Emergency Health Services said, and three people were taken to hospital, two in critical condition. The driver and passenger in the fleeing Altima were arrested. Charges have been laid for disqualified driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and fleeing from police.

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Steed said the Burnaby RCMP’s serious crime unit is assisting with the investigation and the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) will investigate police actions. Postmedia News has requested details about why Transit Police tried to pull over the Nissan and how the family can get help and answers. “I am unable to provide further details as to the reason for the traffic stop as the IIO is handling that part of the investigation,” Steed responded via email. “Any further questions can be forwarded to them.” The independent investigations bureau said it is investigating the same questions Postmedia submitted, but because of that investigation and pending criminal charges, the bureau cannot comment, a spokeswoman said. Anyone who saw the crash or has dash cam video and has not contacted police is asked to call 604-515-8300 (or text 87.7.77). — With files by Joe Ruttle and Tiffany Crawford [email protected] twitter.com/gordmcintyre

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