Police and bylaw officers at the homeless camp along the Okanagan Rail Trail in Kelowna, Sept. 26, 2022.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kelowna man has been charged after a vehicle struck and seriously injured a homeless man on the weekend.

Tyler Manchur, born in 1992, has been charged with one count of impaired operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and one count of driving while prohibited. According to his Facebook profile, he lives in Kelowna but is from Olds, Alberta.

Just after midnight on Sept. 25, a man was sent to the hospital with serious injuries after his tent was run over by a black Dodge ram on the Okanagan Rail Trail, just off of Baillie Avenue, according to witnesses.

READ MORE: Man in hospital with 'serious injuries' after run over by truck on Okanagan Rail Trail

At the time, police called the incident an “accident” but that was a misuse of wording, said Const. Mike Della-Paolera, with the Kelowna RCMP. It is still under investigation as a motor vehicle collision and is being treated as an “incident.”

The police are having a tough time tracking down transient people who witnessed the incident and when officers do speak with a potential witness they aren’t always willing to provide information, Const. Della-Paolera said. 

“The investigation is going to take a while for various reasons,” he said.

Manchur is in police custody and will be appearing in court later today, Sept. 26.

A man at the homeless camp, who identified the victim as Jeff, said he was a father figure to him. He declined to give Jeff’s last name and said he was still in the hospital. He doubted Jeff would be able to ride a bicycle again due to the severity of his injuries.

READ MORE: Kelowna mayor calling for more supports after 5 overdose deaths, person injured on Okanagan Rail Trail

Another homeless man claims a similar looking vehicle to the one involved in the incident was driving in the area that night, and someone in the truck yelled profanities at them.

Neither homeless person iNFOnews.ca spoke to wanted their names used.

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