Support for teen's family

Support is building for the family of a teen who was killed in a Thursday morning motorcycle crash on his commute to school.

Family friend Sergiy Filippov said Mount Boucherie Secondary School student Yegor Socolov, 16, was kind, loved the outdoors and spending time with his family.

That his life was cut short at such a young age has been a “huge hit” to his family and the close knit group of friends, who moved to the community a few years ago, Filippov said.

He saw the boy just days earlier and was struggling to come to terms with him being gone. For the family, he said, Oct. 3 it will be the "most tragic day" of their lives.

Filippov’s hope is that raising money will help alleviate some of the strain that the teen’s parents and his younger brother will face as they navigate the days ahead.

"I know the parents very well,” Filippov said. "I would like to help them — of course everyone from our own Ukrainian community is helping them as much as they can — but again, to raise (burial costs) within a week, it's not easy.”

A GoFundMe account with details on how the community can support the family financially was set up Thursday night and already has earned a great deal of support.

The school district is also doing what it can to support students who are struggling to come to terms with the devastating loss of life.

The Central Okanagan School District said that a post-critical incident response team with counsellors trained in supporting students and staff during a crisis are at the school.

"Our hearts are foremost with the student's family, and we offer our support to everyone in the school community," Kevin Kaardal, Superintendent of Schools, said in a press release.

"This tragedy has a wide impact, and we will continue to support each other in the coming days and months through compassion and togetherness.”

In the aftermath of the fatal crash, police are seeking dashcam footage to help in their investigation.

The incident happened at Highway 97 and Grizzly Road at around 8 a.m. and RCMP spokesperson Ryan Watters says investigators are seeking dashcam footage from Highway 97 and Grizzly Road between 8:15 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. Thursday.

"If you have footage and have not yet spoken to police, please call the RCMP at 250-762-3300 and reference the file number 2024-58374," Watters said.

The GoFundMe can be found at this link.