Driver ‘having a good time’ before high-speed collision
Ryan Dick on trial for impaired driving causing bodily harm
An off-duty OPP officer saw Ryan Dick driving at a high rate of speed and “having a good time” in his 2005 Nissan Frontier pickup seconds before a catastrophic crash on Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls.
Dick smashed his truck into a 2006 Pontiac Pursuit operated by Romy Lam, 61, of Niagara Falls at the intersection of McLeod Road on Aug. 29, 2013.
Lam was making a left-hand turn on her way to the Skylon Tower, where she had worked for 28 years.
The crash crippled Lam, 61, of Niagara Falls and left her with a severe head injury and spinal fractures. She will never return to work and is in a wheelchair. Her husband has had to quit his job to care for her.
Dick, who was 24 at the time, is charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and driving with greater than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood.
Though bloody and battered, the Niagara Falls man walked away from the crash.
Const. Tim Dunnah is a 14-year veteran of the OPP. Based out of Port Credit, he is part of the enforcement team responsible for 400-series highways.
He had spent the day with his wife and young family at Marineland and was driving north on Stanley Avenue when he said he saw Dick’s black pickup truck barrelling down the road in the opposite direction at a high-rate of speed.
“The tires were leaving the pavement (where the roadway was uneven), and it was kicking up dust,” Dunnah said. “The driver was having a good time. He was wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt and the windows were open.
“He was nodding his head, much like we have all done when we were younger and listening to music.”
Dunnah told the court he estimated the speed of Dick’s truck at more than double the 50-km/ h limit.
Dunnah heard a loud bang and checked his rear-view mirror. He likened what he saw to a “bomb going off.”
The force of impact with Dick’s truck split Lam’s car in half. The rear passenger compartment and trunk landed in a field across Stanley Avenue. The crumpled front half of the vehicle came to rest in the median with Lam slumped across the steering wheel. The first officer on the scene, Niagara Regional Police Const. Mark Dugan, reached into the wreck and found she had no vital signs. Lam was revived in the ambulance before being airlifted to hospital in Hamilton, where she spent three months in a coma.
Dunnah testified Tuesday that he turned his vehicle around immediately after witnessing the crash and drove back to offer assistance.
Crown attorney Andrew Brown asked Dunnah why he stopped so far away from the scene and covered the rest of the distance on foot.
“I had two young children in the car with me,” Dunnah said. “I did not want them to see this collision.”
The trial is being held in Welland in front of Judge James Ramsay without a jury.
The day began with Dugan on the stand and butting heads with Frank Genesee, the Hamilton-based attorney representing Dick.
Dugan was sitting in a patrol vehicle in the parking lot of the Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre on Stanley when he saw Dick’s truck race by moments before the collision.
Dugan estimated Dick’s truck was travelling at about 150 km/h, or three times the speed limit.
On cross-examination, Genesee repeatedly challenged that assertion, which led to some testy exchanges.
At one point Ramsay admonished Dugan.
“Let Mr. Genesee finish the question before you answer,” Ramsay said.
Later, Genesee drew Ramsay’s ire. Genesee was in the process of asking Dugan if Dick was drinking alcohol at the scene of the crash.
“The onus is on the Crown,” Ramsay said with more than a hint of irritation. “You don’t have to negate everything he (Dugan) says.
“And by the way, don’t you think he would have told me if he had observed Mr. Dick drinking alcohol?”
Genesse replied, “I appreciate the guidance, your honour.”
As Genesee tried to explain himself, Ramsay cut him off again.
“I don’t want a speech — just carry on,” the judge said. twitter.com/bill_standard