Almost a week after her childhood friend died in a rollover on the Low Level Bridge, Elena Dumais can’t help but think of the time she sat beside him in school, watching a presentation on the dangers of drunk driving.
The gymnasium went silent as a crash scene unfolded in front of the group of seventh graders.
“You don’t think it’s going to be someone that you know, especially someone that I’ve known for eight years. You don’t expect it happening. And it did,” Dumais said.
“I feel like we’re all too young for this.”
Dumais’ friend Brayden Hoblak, 19, was killed on Aug. 29. He was driving two friends home after a night out when he lost control of his car, struck a concrete barrier and collided with steel beams on the Low Level Bridge.
The car rolled on its roof and Hoblak’s passengers, two other childhood friends, were critically injured.
Police say speed and alcohol were factors in the collision.
Dumais, 20, said Hoblak was a class clown who’d do anything to make people laugh. She said he was deeply in love with his girlfriend.
Hoblak and his girlfriend, Alicia Schlitter, were together for over two years. (Supplied/Alicia Schlitter)
‘We’re all just kids’
Alicia Schlitter, 18, stayed up late texting her boyfriend the night of the collision. She knew Hoblak was enjoying a night out with his friends and wanted to see if he needed a ride home.
She’d been dating Hoblak for more than two years after the two met while working together at a north Edmonton movie theatre.
About an hour before the collision, he texted her to say he’d be over later that night, right after he finished dropping his friends off.
“I told him not to drink too much, if you need me, I will pick you up, I will be there, my ringer is always on for you,” she said. “He was heading back to drop off the two other guys in his car and then that’s when it happened.”
She found out about the collision the next morning, when she woke up and he wasn’t there. The two passengers were on life support, she said. One suffered a broken pelvis and had to have his arm amputated, she said. The other friend suffered severe brain damage.
Hoblak graduated from Ross Sheppard High School in 2016, Schlitter said. He was considering becoming a pipefitter, and the couple was dreaming of future camping trips and trips to the Caribbean.
He was considerate toward others, Schlitter said, and charming with her.
“We were very inseparable,” she said.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
Dumais says her friend was a good guy who just made a mistake.
“Everyone’s kind of in shock. We’re all kids. We’re all just kids,” Dumais said.
“I hope that everyone affected by it is going to be able to move on and take it as a learning experience. I don’t think anyone would be able to handle having this happen again.”