Four-year-old Alexa Renee Middelaer was feeding carrots and apples to a horse she called “Horsey Love” when a car lost control along a rural stretch of road in Ladner, striking and killing her.
Delta Police say alcohol and speed may have been factors in the crash that also injured the girl’s grandparents and aunt.
Alexa’s parents, in an emotional family statement yesterday, said feeding the horse was the perfect way to end a perfect day, and a perfect life.
“She took delight in everything, and embraced life with vigour and zeal,” said the statement, released by Delta Police yesterday.
“She was a passionate, loving child and we feel blessed to have raised her for four-and-a-half years.”
Alexa, the statement said, spent Saturday in Delta, swimming with her family in their backyard pool. In the afternoon she took her daily trip to feed the horses along 64th Street in Ladner.
At 5 p.m., a 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue lost control along the single-lane road, striking Alexa and her aunt, then crashing into a parked Honda and coming to a rest against a power pole.
The driver, a 56-year-old Delta woman, was briefly taken into custody and was issued a 24-hour driving suspension. Police are still investigating the crash and charges may still be laid.
Alexa’s grandparents, who were in the parked car, suffered minor injuries. Her aunt is in hospital in stable condition.
Flowers and a pair of toys, a teddy bear and a plush lion, along with a broken fence and shattered safety glass marked the accident scene in the 4300 block of 64th Street yesterday.
-jeff.hodson@metronews.ca
