Keith Fraser, Vancouver, BC (The Province) – A Burnaby RCMP officer, who pleaded guilty in connection with a collision that killed two people, wept on the witness stand Wednesday as she described the accident.
Responding to a 911 call about a pregnant woman wishing to commit suicide, Const. Petina Kostiuk, 41, says she ran to her police vehicle and sped to the scene.
As she approached the intersection at Royal Oak and Kingsway, she was travelling at 80 km/h, she told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Grauer.
It was a quiet night and no vehicles were going through the intersection, she said.
Her police cruiser slowed down and then accelerated, as she looked right, then left, then right again.
Then she saw a vehicle coming at her, at about 30 to 40 degrees from the right, she said.
“I remember hanging onto the steering wheel. Whenever I’m faced with something alarming, my first reaction is to say, ‘Oh dear,’ or ‘Oh, my.’
“And I remember going, ‘Oh,’ and that’s all I could get out before the first impact. I remember even not being able to actually be able to press on that brake pedal. That vehicle came out of nowhere. It was right there.”
She says she felt three impacts and then her vehicle came to a stop.
“I remember thinking, ‘Ive got to get out of here.’
“I can’t see anything. I’m reaching for the door handle and the door is not opening.”
With the help of a bystander she got out and hobbled over to the Cavalier she had collided with and called for emergency assistance.
A man came up and told her that there were two people in the Cavalier.
“The driver was kind of leaned over towards the passenger area,” she said, pausing to wipe away tears. “There was a second person on the floor. I called in an update that there were actually two people in the vehicle.”
The two occupants of the Cavalier – Albert Haczewski, 27, and his lifelong friend, Koyo Hara, 26 – were both killed in the October 2007 collision.
Kostiuk, who has not returned to full duty since the crash, was initially charged with two counts on dangerous driving causing death.
But in March she pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of driving without due care and attention and was fined $1,500.
The families of both victims have sued her for damages and the Hara lawsuit has been settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
But despite the guilty plea, Kostiuk has not admitted liability in the suit filed by the family of Albert Haczewski.
Under questioning from her lawyer, Sarah Eustace, she said that at the time of the collision, she was complying with the RCMP’s policy regarding the use of emergency vehicles.
Under cross-examination by Derek Mah, Kostiuk was asked whether she felt responsible for the crash.
“My Lord, I don’t think that I can properly answer that question,” she replied.
“It’s either a yes, or a no,” said Mah.
“It’s not as simple as that,” said Kostiuk.
Earlier, Eustace, told the judge in her opening statement that Kostiuk was not negligent in the crash.
She said she would call evidence that would show Haczewski had been smoking marijuana prior to the crash and was impaired, making him at least negligent in part for the accident.
The trial continues.
[Source]
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