A man has now been charged in the deaths of two women hit by a car after they stopped to assist a turtle cross the road last spring.

The women, sisters in their 60s, were killed when they were struck by a car on May 18 on Charing Cross Road.

Police now say that a a 24-year-old man from Raleigh Township has been charged with two counts of careless driving causing death. He will appear in court on Dec. 17.

“The Chatham-Kent Police extend their heartfelt condolences to the families affected by this tragedy during this difficult time,” police said in a statement.

Police said they had pulled their car over and exited the vehicle in order to help a turtle cross the street, something a close family member told CBC at the time came as no surprise.

“They always saved everything. From a little bird to a tree… It was always their nature to help any living thing,” Dorothy Suliga said of her mother Teresa and aunt Elizabeth Seremak in an interview in May.