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Barbara Kentner, Indigenous Woman Hit By Trailer Hitch Thrown From Car, Dies

A man was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the attack.
Barbara Kentner/Facebook

UPDATE — Nov. 5, 2017: The charge against Brayden Bushby has been upgraded to second-degree murder, CBC News reports.

An Indigenous woman who was hit by a trailer hitch thrown from a passing car earlier this year has died.

Barbara Kentner, 34, was struck in the stomach in January in Thunder Bay, Ont., according to CBC News.

A passenger in the car reportedly yelled "Oh, I got one" after throwing the hitch, her sister Melissa Kentner, who was walking with Barbara at the time, told CBC News.

Barbara needed surgery and Melissa told the broadcaster in March she wouldn't survive her injuries.

Barbara Kentner/Facebook

She wrote in a Facebook post that her sister had died Tuesday morning.

"I heard her take her last breath," she told APTN National News.

The injury tore Barbara's small intestine, Melissa told Maclean's in June, and bacteria began to attack her organs.

She needed a liver transplant, so she stopped drinking in hopes of being added to the transplant list after six months. But she became too sick to undergo the procedure.

Her teenage daughter, Serena, was away at a leadership camp in Ottawa when the attack happened. Serena said she blames herself for leaving her mom, who had battled alcohol addiction.

"I should never have left. I know I could have saved her," she told Maclean's.

Brayden Bushby, 18 at the time of his arrest, was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the attack, according to Thunder Bay News Watch.

Police have not yet said whether they plan to change the charge in light of Barbara's death.

On Facebook in February, Barbara wrote that doctors had told her she might be able to undergo a transplant, but that she didn't want to get too optimistic until she knew for certain.

"I'm too damn young to leave this earth," she wrote.

With a file from The Canadian Press

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