Driver’s statement to police after fatal crash admissible: judge

Amherstburg police did not violate the rights of a driver who struck and killed a man skateboarding to work in the fog, an Ontario court judge ruled Thursday. Brandin Crosier had tried to argue that he didn’t understand he was under arrest and that police didn’t tell him he was being charged with a criminal offence. He also argued he was not given the opportunity to call a lawyer nor informed he had that right. Crosier subsequently gave police a statement while receiving treatment in hospital after the Nov. 17, 2016, crash. Crosier wanted the statement ruled inadmissible as evidence at trial. “I find no breach,” Justice Sharman Bondy ruled Thursday. “I find that the statement was voluntary in every respect.” Crosier was the driver of a 2011 Ford Focus that struck and killed a man on County Road 18 between Concession 4 South and Meloche Road. Crosier pulled out to pass a vehicle and hit the man head-on. The man Crosier struck was Adam Pouget, 30, a father of three young children with a fourth on the way. He worked for Tilbury Concrete and was skateboarding to a job site about 6:40 a.m. when he was killed.

Crosier is on trial charged with criminal negligence causing death. His trial was derailed in January by the Charter challenges raised by defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme. Such challenges normally take place before a trial begins.

The trial has heard that Crosier told Const. Viktor Burany that “everything’s a blur,” referring to the crash. The trial has yet to hear what Crosier went on to tell the officer.

The interaction between Crosier and the officer is captured on video from the body camera Burany wore.

Now that the judge has ruled that the statement is admissible as evidence, the rest of the video is expected to be played in court when the trial resumes on April 30.