Pickup truck driver who killed teenage girl on a skateboard faces no consequences, never apologizes
'I can’t even put into words how hard it is to just have the will to breathe when you lose a child' – Tara Hartshorne, mother of 19-year-old Chloe Des Rochers killed in Rosedale
For two years Tara Hartshorne kept a small fire of hope alive inside her that the young man who killed her daughter would get what he deserves.
It wouldn’t bring her back. The trauma and loss is inescapable, but Tara wanted at least some small measure of justice.
Daniel Beeke, however, not only faced no legal consequences but remains unapologetic about killing 19-year-old Chloe Des Rochers with his pickup truck.
“I can’t even put into words how hard it is to just have the will to breathe when you lose a child,” Tara told me.
“I never knew a heart could hurt so bad.”
The unrepentant 24-year-old Beeke was not charged criminally. He never said he was sorry. He fought charges under the motor vehicle act, and they were dropped, and he has apparently been protected from scrutiny by his tight-knit religious community in Rosedale.
A future stolen
Chloe Des Rochers was 17 when pandemic restrictions started to disrupt lives in 2020.
She didn’t get a high school prom. She found it hard to stay connected with friends. She couldn’t even get her driver’s licence because of long wait times.
“She was very lonely,” Tara told me in August 2022. “Chloe was having a hard time with her mental health since the pandemic.”
But at 19 in 2022 she was starting to do better. Chloe was working in long-term care as a student care aide, and was hoping to be a nurse like her mother.
“Every evening she would go out walking or riding her bike or skateboard to help clear her head,” Tara said. “She was starting to seem like the old Chloe. She was smiling more and things were getting better but she was still very lonely.”
Chloe was out on one of those summer evening skateboard rides when she was struck and killed at an intersection neighbours say is notorious for speeding, stop-sign running, and close calls.
She was killed by Daniel Beeke in his pickup at the intersection of Ford Road and Nevin Road. He stayed on the scene and co-operated with the RCMP who said at the time that they were investigating the incident, including if alcohol was a contributing factor.
A woman who lives near the intersection contacted me and said she and other neighbours were demanding that a four-way stop be installed at Nevin and Ford roads. Drivers even sped by in August 2022 as the vigil for Chloe was underway, and again when I was talking to Tara at the intersection on Sept. 19, 2022 for a followup story.
As of May 6, 2025, it’s still a two-way stop for traffic on Nevin Road.
No justice
Despite the severity of the incident and probable reckless driving that killed a girl, Beeke was not charged criminally. It was never explained to Tara what state Beeke was in when he killed Chloe but Tara is still upset in 2025. that he was only charged with "driving without reasonable consideration" under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Two years to the day after killing Chloe, on August 1, 2024, Beeke was due in court for an appearance regarding the driving violation. Tara had never seen him. She was nervous about that day but she insisted she needed him to see her. So she went to the courthouse with friends wearing T-shirts adorning Chloe's photo and two messages: "She should still be here" and "Never forget – Chloe Ellen Marie Des Rochers May 12, 2003 – August 2, 2022.”
The violation ticket wasn’t dealt with that day, but then on Nov. 13, 2024 he was back, and the outcome was salt in the wound for Tara.
“We just left the courthouse,” she told me that day. “They dropped all charges against Daniel. I’m devastated right now. The last two years I have gotten by by kindling the small amount of hope I had in my heart that he would get what he deserves. Now I have nothing. I feel like I let Chloe down by not fighting hard enough. I feel like giving up on life entirely. My heart is crushed.”
If there was a glimmer of hope that he might apologize now, this was the time as there was no more chance of legal liability for admitting he did something wrong. But no, Beeke still never reached out to apologize to Tara or anyone in her family.
Tara was told there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue the charge, which is hard to fathom, but it ended that day and she is left with the pain of losing a daughter.
In addition to the vigil in August, someone at The Cascades where Chloe worked set up a GoFundMe to help the family. On the page, she is described as a valuable member of the team at the long-term care facility, attending the University of the Fraser Valley to one day start a career in health care.
“During the troublesome times of COVID, Chloe brought a shining light to many seniors who only saw darkness as they were isolated from their families,” the post reads. “Chloe would play games, paint nails, and spend quality time loving on everybody's grandma, including her own great-grandmother Jackie…. The community will remember Chloe as a bubbly, happy, beautiful young lady with the whole world ahead of her.”
Painful bureaucratic post-script
Tara Hartshorne is one of the relatively small number of people in British Columbia who have lost a loved one to a motor vehicle incident, be it an accident, negligence, or criminal behaviour.
What she has learned as others in that cohort of people have also learned, is that ICBC’s “no-fault” insurance program that came in May 1, 2021, means that even if Beeke had been charged criminally, a pickup driver and a girl killed by that pickup driver on a skateboard are equally at fault. As in, neither of them are at fault so the driver who is actually at fault can't be sued, and the grieving parents of a dead child get next to nothing.
• Coming soon, more on this ICBC insult added to injury Tara faced thanks to no-fault insurance, and response from a Vancouver lawyer who says the scheme is “ so unfair that the government was scared to tell the public what it is.”
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Paul J. Henderson
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