Hit-and-run victim in Calgary fondly remembered

Knowing a suspect was being questioned last night brought a small semblance of closure to the partner of a woman killed in a hit-and-run crash.

Sandra Casey, 43, was crossing 10 Ave. at 17 St. S.W. after leaving Money Pennies bar in Calgary, Alberta about 2 a.m. yesterday when she was hit by a fast-moving sedan that did not stop.

Paramedics rushed the woman to hospital, where she later died.

Within hours, police had identified a suspect and he was taken in for questioning yesterday afternoon.

Charges were pending against the man, who is believed to be in his 40s.

Police were still searching for the car, believed to be a white Pontiac Grand-Am or Oldsmobile Alero.

"I guess it's a kind of closure," said Deb Boniface, who married Casey on April 3, 2008, in a civil ceremony in Calgary.

"We're going to have a face to this senseless crime, but I do honestly feel bad for this person ... it's probably the biggest mistake they've made in their life."

Nearly 100 mourners turned up at Money Pennies last night to fondly remember Casey, a woman Boniface called a good soul who touched the people around her in a positive way.
"You know what, there's good people and then there's good people, and she was it," said Boniface.

"Everybody loved her, there's not one person I know that did not like her, not one.
"She was my wife, she was everything a partner should be.
"I wouldn't have married her if she wasn't the person I wanted to spend my life with."

Boniface said the couple had a seven-month-old chocolate lab and returned from celebrating their honeymoon in Mexico last week.

"We finally had some money and decided to go," she said.

A regular at Money Pennies, Casey worked in the kitchen until about 11 p.m. Saturday night then stayed and had drinks with a co-worker who was also off shift.

The pair waited for a ride home from a bartender and Casey was walking to his car when she was hit.

Casey had been helping out at the downtown bar for the past two months while the regular cook recuperates from surgery, said Terry Wheeler, whose son owns Money Pennies.
"That's just how she was, always helping others," he said. "In fact, we just moved home and she was there helping us. "She was just selfless."

Born and raised in Newry, Ireland, Casey bounced between Europe, Philadelphia and Calgary over the last 15 years but called Calgary home for the past two.

"She was immigrating to Canada," said Boniface. "She's lived here for two years but would go back when she was required to."

Boniface said Casey's family has been notified and they are now working to return her to Ireland.

By DAVE DORMER, SUN MEDIA