A drunk driver who killed a Red Deer couple with five children is now being sued in civil court for several million dollars.
The suit against Chad Mitchell Olsen, 25, of Sedalia, was filed sometime in January by the family who lost loved ones Brad and Krista Howe, both in their mid 30s, during the early morning hours of Feb. 7, 2010.
Karla Green, the sister of Krista who has been looking after the children ranging in age from seven to 17, would not confirm the $3.5 million amount of the lawsuit reported by a Calgary newspaper.
She said the family or its lawyers are saying little about the lawsuit.
“There’s not a lot of support for raising a family and he needs to be accountable,” said Green on Thursday. “And the justice system certainly hasn’t made him accountable, so we decided that was the right action to take.”
Olsen had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood when he slammed his pickup truck into the Howes’ car on Red Deer’s south side.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of impaired driving death and received a sentence of two years and three months in April 2011. The Crown appealed and last October Olsen’s jail sentence was lengthened to three-and-a-half years.
Olsen received day parole last December, causing a public outcry.