The wife of a Ponoka area politician is dead and police have now charged her son in connection with her death.
The RCMP were called to a rural property north of Ponoka Tuesday on a report of a collision involving a pedestrian.
Police say a semi tractor unit was being driven out of a building on the property when the male driver struck a female.
The victim, 75-year-old Shirley Hinkley, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have now charged her son, 36-year-old Blair Jason Hinkley, with impaired driving causing death.
"He was distraught. He was quite distraught realizing he had struck his mother," said Cpl. Jerry Court with Ponoka RCMP.
The victim is the wife of Ponoka County's deputy reeve Gawney Hinkley. The woman's husband tells CTV News it was a tragic accident.
"We were just starting a council meeting when my son Blair phoned and said, 'I just ran over mom and she's dead'. He told me he was hugging her and hugging her and he said, 'I killed her, I killed her,'" said Hinkley.
Hinkley has served on the Ponoka County council for 21 years. When asked if his son had a drinking problem he replied, "Probably along with millions of other people about the same way I suppose. I don't know."
Blair Jason Hinkley will appear in a Ponoka courtroom on Friday. His mother is expected to be laid to rest this weekend.
With files from Laura Tupper
