Cabbie may not have seen teen on road, court hears

The Calgary cab driver who ran over a drunken teen prone on a busy city thoroughfare would likely not have “easily recognized” the peril ahead, an expert testified Tuesday.

But accident reconstructionist Ken Reed, a recently retired member of the Calgary Police Service, said driver Stanislaw Maguder would have felt a significant bump as he drove over the body of Tyla Chipaway.

“The vehicle did go up and over,” Reed told Crown prosecutor Elaine Ahn. “The operator would have known that they had driven over something.”

But Reed said he could not determine whether Maguder saw Chipaway, 16, lying in the middle lane of 16th Avenue N.E. as he approached her in the early morning hours of March 18, 2015.

“I cannot say what the operator’s sight line was,” he said. “He could’ve been looking away.”

Maguder, 71, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident knowing a death has occurred in connection with the fatal collision.

He has admitted being the only driver to strike Chipaway causing her death, but defence lawyer Balfour Der will argue his client didn’t flee to escape prosecution.

Under cross-examination by Der, Reed said it wouldn’t be unusual to find debris in the middle of a roadway.

“It is, however, uncommon in your experience for there to be people lying across major roadways here in Calgary?” Der asked.

“Yes,” Reed said.