(Vancouver Province) – The wife of a man who died after being struck by an RCMP cruiser recalled in vivid detail on Tuesday how devastated she was by the news of his death.
“It was sheer terror,” said Paula Haczewski, 28. “I don’t really have the words to describe it. I collapsed on the floor and so did my mom and dad. I wailed. I became insane. I was screaming and crying. I didn’t see any reason to live anymore. It was horrible.”
She described how she was financially dependent on her husband, Albert Haczewski, 27, and how in the wake of his death, she was terrified and depressed and had trouble eating and sleeping for the first year.
Haczewski was testifying in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver at a lawsuit launched by Albert’s family.
In March, RCMP Const. Petina Kostiuk pleaded guilty in criminal court to driving without due care in connection with the October 2007 incident.
Responding to a 911 call, the officer sped through a red light at Royal Oak and Kingsway in Burnaby and collided with a vehicle, killing both the driver, Haczewski, and his lifelong friend, Koyo Hara, 26.
Kostiuk, 41, received a $1,500 fine, after a provincial court judge in Vancouver called her actions a “momentary lapse” with tragic consequences.
The families of both men sued the RCMP, with the Hara lawsuit being settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
But Haczewski’s civil suit opened Monday before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Grauer.
The RCMP has not admitted liability in the Haczewski suit and is expected to argue that the victim was impaired from smoking marijuana and therefore contributed to the negligence.
The plaintiff’s deny that there was evidence of impairment, but say that the issue is irrelevant because there was just over a second for the driver to react before the collision.
On cross-examination, Haczewski admitted her husband had driven a vehicle after smoking pot occasionally.
But she said he always waited several hours after smoking before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.
“He was a very conscientious driver.”
The RCMP is expected to open its case today. Kostiuk is expected to be among a number of witnesses called by the defendants.
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