Judge to weigh impairment versus inattention

Defence argues fatal crash was not caused by alcohol

R ED DEER A Crown prosecutor says the actions of an Alberta woman who has pleaded not guilty in a fatal drunk-driving crash last year were those of a person who was impaired by alcohol.

Ann Siford summed up her case during final arguments Tuesday in the trial of Bobbi Crotty, who is charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death and three counts of impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

The 24-year-old was charged after a three-vehicle collision Aug. 5, 2017, west of Red Deer that killed a 36-year-old woman and injured a number of other people.

Siford reiterated testimony from an RCMP officer, who had told the court that Crotty smelled of alcohol at the crash scene and admitted to having two or three drinks.

During his final arguments, defence lawyer Maurice Collard said his client displayed no signs of impairment and suggested she had a momentary lapse of attention by failing to heed the end of a passing lane before the crash occurred.

The case returns to court Oct. 1 to set a date for a verdict in the judge-alone trial.

During testimony, the trial heard Crotty was driving a Dodge Nitro when she approached two vehicles stopped for a red light in the westbound lanes of Highway 11A.

The court was told that when the light changed, Crotty pulled into a passing lane to get ahead of the first two vehicles but failed to merge into the right-hand travel lane before an oncoming Mitsubishi Lancer crested a hill and collided with her Nitro.

The woman who died was a passenger in the Lancer.

An RCMP forensic collision reconstructionist testified that the Nitro continued in the oncoming lane for about 105 metres after it was safe to do so.

Siford said Crotty would have passed nine street signs and a big white arrow on the road to indicate she needed to merge, but made no effort to keep right or apply the

Our submission is we have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Crotty was operating a motor vehicle while impaired.

brakes.

She also said the third driver who was trailing the first two had left up to three car lengths of space for Crotty to enter.

“Our submission is we have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Crotty was operating a motor vehicle while impaired,” Siford told Justice Monica Bast.

Collard said Crotty’s admission to having two or three drinks and smelling of alcohol indicates “consumption and not impairment,” adding that she displayed no visible signs of impairment, such as a flushed face, stumbling or lack of coherency.

“There literally could not be less evidence of operating a vehicle while impaired,” he said.

Collard concluded that Crotty’s inattentiveness behind the wheel is a careless driving offence and not criminal in nature.