‘OK, I was at Hooters; they cut me off ’
Officer testifies about conversation with accused at hospital
The defence attorney for Ryan Dick spent Tuesday morning dissecting the testimony of a Niagara Regional Police breath technician.
Dick is facing three charges: impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and driving with greater than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood.
On Aug. 29, 2013, he smashed his Nissan pickup truck into a 2006 Pontiac Pursuit operated by Romy Lam, 61, of Niagara Falls at the intersection of McLeod Road.
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 and left her with a severe head injury and spinal fractures. She will never return to work and is in a wheelchair.
Though bloody and battered, Dick walked away from the crash.
Paramedics transported Dick to Greater Niagara General Hospital for a check on his injuries. Dick’s truck rolled and slid down the median after striking Lam’s car at a high-rate of speed.
Const. Mike Malachowsky, a breath tech, was working traffic duty in St. Catharines when he was called to the hospital to test Dick for alcohol.
When he arrived, he said, Dick, who was 24 at the time of the accident, was strapped to a spine board. His face was still covered in blood from the crash.
Frank Genesee, Dick’s lawyer, questioned why Malachowsky asked for a blood sample instead of using a breathalyzer.
“You just didn’t want to drive to the station and pick up a breathalyzer, did you?” Genesee ask. Malachowsky denied that. Genesee also wanted to know why Malachowsky didn’t ask the doctors if Dick was capable of giving a breath sample.
“He was laying on a back-board, having gone for X-rays and a CAT scan,” Malachowsky said. “I didn’t have to ask the doctor. I felt Mr. Dick was not in a suitable condition to provide a breath sample into an Intoxilyzer.”
Malachowsky later said, when prompted by Judge James Ramsay, he had never taken a breath sample from someone who was laying down.
Genesee asked Malachowsky if Dick was “fully alert” during their conversation.
“Yes, he was fully alert,” he replied.
Malachowsky said he asked Dick if he would consent to a blood sample. He testified Dick replied, “Ya, man.”
Under cross-examination by Genesee, Malachowsky maintained he advised Dick about his right to counsel. He also said he reminded Dick he was under arrest and had been read his rights.
Malachowsky testified Dick wouldn’t tell him where he was drinking at first, but relented and said “OK, I was at Hooters; they cut me off.”
In the afternoon, Det. Const. Sylvie McGregor of the collision reconstruction unit testified evidence at the scene indicated that Dick drove his truck right “through” Lam’s Pontiac, cleaving the car in two.
McGregor used crime scene photos to show tire tracks on parts of the rear portion of the Pontiac. The rear seats and trunk ended up in a field on the other side of Stanley Avenue.
McGregor has been with the collision reconstruction unit since 2011 and has investigated hundreds of crashes. She said what was left of Lam’s vehicle was the most severe wreck she has ever examined.