Judge to rule on driver’s culpability in fatal accident

Defence says it was lapse of attention; Crown argues collision was negligence

The deadly crash that killed a Calgary man was the result of a momentary lapse in attention, the lawyer for a woman charged in his death said Wednesday.

Defence counsel Alain Hepner argued his client should not have been charged criminally, suggesting a Traffic Safety Act ticket would have been more appropriate.

But Crown prosecutor Ron Simenik said Cinzia Marson’s driving on June 14, 2015, was a marked departure from a normal driver’s actions.

Simenik noted Marson accelerated her Lincoln SUV moments before the collision, suggesting she may have been trying to beat Christopher Pollitt’s car through the intersection of Highway 791 and Highway 72.

Marson’s vehicle’s crash data recorder showed her foot was on the gas pedal for 2.5 seconds before the collision.

“You can see how far away she was from the point of impact when she hit the accelerator,” the prosecutor told Justice Beth Hughes.

“She’s possibly trying to hit the gas to get past that car.”

Marson, 34, is charged with dangerous driving causing death in connection with the collision.

Pollitt, a former U.K. police officer and soldier who was working for a Calgary security company, was on his way to Beiseker in response to break-in alarms at a school.

He was heading eastbound on Highway 72 when Marson ran a stop sign while driving southbound on Highway 791, T-boning the victim’s Hyundai Elantra.

Hepner said before Hughes determines whether Marson’s conduct was more than a momentary lapse in attention, she’ll have to decide if she accepts his client’s version of the crash.

Despite testimony from an eyewitness who said Marson never slowed at the stop sign and expert evidence that she couldn’t have, the Calgary woman testified she did stop before proceeding through the intersection.

Marson said after she stopped, and without seeing Pollitt’s car, she moved forward and the collision occurred. But Cpl. Chris Kosmenko, an expert in accident reconstruction with the RCMP, said it would have been “impossible” for Marson’s SUV to reach the speed it did at impact had it stopped at the intersection.

Kosmenko, who pegged Marson’s speed at the time of the collision at 67 km/h, said she would have needed a rocket attached to her vehicle to get to that speed in such a short distance.

And Simenik said based on Marson’s testimony that she did stop — which he said Hughes should dismiss — the judge should reject any suggestion of a short lack of attentiveness.

“She can’t have it both ways,” he said.

Hughes will hand down her decision in the case on Friday.

You can see how far away she was from the point of impact when she hit the accelerator.