‘Leisurely’ bike ride ended in fatal crash, survivor testifies
A man injured in a motorcycle crash that killed his girlfriend testified Monday at a trial for the driver facing hit-and-run charges in the case.
Christina Shi-Jin Goh, 26, died, and her boyfriend, Michael Liu, was badly injured when their motorcycle crashed as they travelled southbound on 122 Street on May 11, 2015. At the time, police said the bike was struck by a silver Infiniti turning left at an intersection.
Following witness reports, David Gershon Bookhalter, 63, was charged with failure to stop at the scene of an accident knowing bodily harm was caused and failure to stop at the scene of an accident knowing death was caused.
Bookhalter sat in the prisoner box Monday and listened as Liu testified about what he remembered from the day of the crash.
Liu told court that after eating takeout for dinner at their Century Park home, he and Goh decided to go for a ride on Liu’s green Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.
Liu was driving, and Goh was riding behind him. He said they often rode together, and that when they headed out that warm spring evening, it was on a familiar route through south Edmonton.
He said they were both wearing pants, jackets and helmets: Goh’s was purple, his was green.
Liu said it was the “perfect day to ride a motorcycle,” and that they were driving the speed limit of 60 km/h, or maybe a little slower.
“We were in no rush. It was a leisurely ride,” he said.
Liu said the last thing he remembers clearly was seeing the sign for Michener Park, and then he has a vague recollection of hitting the brake and flipping over the motorcycle’s handlebars.
He came to on the ground. A woman was holding his head and telling him he’d been in an accident, Liu testified.
As he was loaded into an ambulance, he asked the paramedics where his girlfriend was, but they didn’t answer.
Later, he overheard them saying the motorcycle passenger was “DOA,” or dead on arrival.
“Unfortunately, I knew what that meant,” Liu said.
The trial is scheduled to run until Friday.