Family to celebrate woman killed by drunk driver

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This article was published 07/07/2023 (1133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jordyn Reimer would be celebrating her 26th birthday had an impaired driver not got behind the wheel.

Reimer was killed May 1, 2022, in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Bond Street and Kildare Avenue West. She was acting as the designated driver for her friend group.

Around 2 a.m., a pickup truck driven by Tyler Scott Goodman ran two stop signs before colliding with Reimer’s SUV. In May 2023, Goodman pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene.

To honour her memory, the Reimer family is working to raise awareness of the impacts of drunk driving, hoping fewer families will have to experience such tragedy.

On Thursday, in the parking lot of the Beer Boutique in the Best Western Premier Winnipeg, a grey, damaged Dodge Grand Caravan minivan was on display. Large decals from MADD, reading “Never drink and drive” in all capital letters, are pasted to its windows.

To the right, a lawn sign memorializing Reimer’s death serves as a reminder for each passerby to never drive while impaired.

“Impaired driving destroys lives. It destroys families,” her mother, Karen Reimer said. “It’s extremely upsetting when you know that this is 100 per cent preventable.”

Today — Jordyn Reimer’s birthday — family will host a small ceremony at the crash site to honour her memory.

Beer Boutique manager Steve Nelson said the death hit close to home. (One of the store’s employees was even at the crash site that night, Karen Reimer said.)

“After hearing about the unfortunate death of Jordyn, we chose to partner with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and we ran a bottle/can drive in May of last year,” Nelson said.

A year later, Nelson said Steven James, manager of the Best Western, was approached by MADD Canada, and asked if it could put the damaged vehicle in front of the business to raise awareness about the harms of impaired driving.

“(James) was all about it, because he had his own personal connection where his grandfather was killed by a drunk driver,” Nelson said.

“As this hits really close to us, and we (as a vendor) are a source of the problem — we realize that — we just wanted to do something right.”

MADD Canada estimates four Canadians are killed and 175 are injured in impairment-related crashes each day. While the legal blood alcohol concentration limit in Canada’s Criminal Code is .08 per cent, smaller amounts of alcohol can still impair driving.

After the partnership between MADD and the Beer Boutique was arranged, Karen Reimer said she felt a rush of gratitude.

“I think there’s been a lot of hesitation in the past, especially for people that sell alcohol to get involved,” she said. “They’re courageous to step forward and want to do this.”

In addition to hosting the MADD vehicle, the vendor is expanding its stock of non-alcoholic beverages (via a partnership with retailer Sobr Market). With more alcohol-free cans on the Beer Boutique’s shelves, Nelson hopes it will promote responsible drinking practices.

Karen Reimer hopes the store’s example will encourage more alcohol vendors to raise awareness about impaired driving. When the family heads to their cabin in the Whiteshell this summer, they plan to ask bar owners in the area to display posters in Jordyn’s memory.

She also wants to see judicial reform. Currently, she said there’s little accountability for the inaction of passengers that can enable impaired drivers.

“I’m still fighting with the Crown to try to have the passenger prosecuted who handed Tyler Scott Goodman the keys to drive when he knew he was impaired,” she said.

“This isn’t an accident. This is a decision that somebody made that led to a death, and people need to be accountable.”

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca