It was dark, Robert Linsley was cycling in black, says lawyer for accused

KITCHENER — A man facing two Highway Traffic Act charges after a cyclist was struck and killed by a car last month in Waterloo, will plead not guilty, his defence lawyer says.

Adam Michasiow, 61, of Waterloo, is charged with careless driving and making an unsafe lane change in connection with the Feb. 2 death of artist Robert Linsley.

He will plead not guilty to both charges, lawyer Tom Brock said in an interview on Wednesday after the case was spoken to in provincial offences court in Kitchener.

Careless driving, the most serious of the two charges, is defined as driving without due care and attention or without consideration for other people. A conviction often results in nothing more than a fine and six demerit points, but the charge does carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

“I’ve seen jail on careless driving charges in the past,” Brock said. “I’ve also seen licence suspension, I’ve seen probation.”

Linsley, 64, of Waterloo, was riding his bicycle north on King Street North near Conestoga Mall just before 7 a.m. when he was struck by a car exiting Highway 85, police said. Linsley was taken to hospital and died of his injuries.

“There’s no issue of speed, there’s no issue of erratic driving,” Brock said. “The problem is the bicyclist was in all black and it was in the early morning hours.

“He (Michasiow) feels terrible — that goes without saying,” Brock added. “Five seconds earlier or five seconds later, it wouldn’t have happened. Happenchance.”

The case returns to court on May 3. By then, Brock hopes to have more disclosure from the prosecutor.

“I’ve got some — it’s about an inch thick,” he said.

A date for a judicial pretrial will likely be set in May. The next step will be to set a trial date. Linsley is survived by his wife and three children. He taught fine arts at the University of Waterloo before leaving the post in 2007 to concentrate on art.

Linsley was a regular contributor at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. In 2011 it hosted his solo exhibit called A Geomorphic Fantasy.