Vincent Matthew Porteous appears in this 2016 photo.
Image Credit: Contributed
August 13, 2025 - 6:00 PM
A Kelowna man facing charges after he crashed a helicopter in the Shuswap River and then took off is being sued by one of the passengers.
In a Notice of Claim filed at the Kelowna courthouse Aug. 11, Taylor Brook Palmer claims she suffered serious injuries after Vincent Matthew Porteous ditched the helicopter in the Shuswap River following an erratic flight from West Kelowna.
The incident made headlines in August 2023 when the RCMP announced a helicopter had crashed and the pilot had left the scene.
Almost 18 months later, Porteous was arrested and charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm and two counts of using fake aviation documents.
The court document said the chopper was flying erratically and negligently, and hit a power line before coming down in the Shuswap River near Mable Lake.
Palmer claims the crash left her with a fractured arm, which required emergency surgery. She also suffered water on her lungs and soft tissue damage neck, shoulders and back.
Along with the physical chronic pain, she says she now has PTSD, anxiety, depression and sleeping issues.
Palmer is also suing Alpine Helicopters, which is where the chopper took off from.
The court document said Porteous was flying the helicopter in a "dangerous manner," including flying low over the river.
Porteous has a lengthy criminal record in Kelowna dating back 20 years.
In 2018, he made the province's top 10 most wanted auto crime offender list, and police have previously described him as "violent, dangerous."
He's used the aliases Matthew Porteous, Kyle Murray and Shane Aaron Kennedy and has been convicted on weapons charges, dangerous driving, uttering threats, domestic abuse and driving without a licence.
He is scheduled to be in court early next year over the helicopter crash.
None of the civil allegations or the criminal charges have been proven in court.
Neither Porteous or Alpine Helicopters has yet filed a response to the case.
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