Lawyers differ on hit-and-run suspect’s driving

The bad driving pattern exhibited by taxi driver Stanislaw Maguder after he ran over a city teen lying in a roadway shows he wasn’t fleeing responsibility, his lawyer told court Friday.

Defence counsel Balfour Der said the more than two dozen traffic violations committed by Maguder after the collision illustrates he wasn’t trying to avoid attention.

“He committed 25 acts of driving which would do nothing more than bring him to the attention of the police,” Der told provincial court Judge Sean Dunnigan. “He has done exactly the opposite of what someone might think of doing if they’re trying to get away.”

Maguder, 71, is charged with hit and run where a fatality occurred in connection with the March 18, 2015, death of Tyla Chipaway.

Chipaway, 16, was killed when she was struck by Maguder’s cab while lying in the middle lane of 16 Ave. N.E., clad in black clothing at 3:25 a.m. that day. Der said things Maguder did following the crash, like taking his cab to a car wash and inspecting the undercar- riage, could have innocent explanations.

“He’s inspecting the car, he’s looking for damage,” Der said. “There are other explanations which fit in with the evidence.”

Maguder testified he thought he hit garbage, or something which fell off another vehicle when he struck Chipaway.

Crown prosecutor Elaine Ahn argued Maguder knew exactly what had happened when he struck Chipaway and fled to escape either criminal, or civil responsibility.

“Mr. Maguder knew he ran over Tyla Chipaway and he fled the scene,” Ahn told Dunnigan. “He did so to escape civil, or criminal liability.”

She said the driving pattern which followed was consistent with an individual trying to get as far away from the scene as quickly as possible. “Running over a bag (of garbage) makes one individual decide to blow nine stop signs and four red lights? No,” Ahn said. “That action speaks to the knowledge that Mr. Maguder had hit a human being,” she said.

“He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could.”

The prosecutor noted Maguder’s first stop after the crash was a Bowness car wash, where he inspected the vehicle before washing it.

“You wash the vehicle because you’re getting rid of evidence,” Ahn said, adding dash cam video from the days leading up to the crash showed Maguder didn’t wash the car every day, as he claimed.

Dunnigan will hand down a verdict July 15.