Car driver acquitted in fatal hit-run with motorcycle

A man involved in a fatal Edmonton hit-and-run that left a female motorcycle passenger dead and the driver of the bike with serious injuries was found not guilty Monday.

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 in connection to a collision with a motorcycle on May 11, 2015.

The trial heard Bookhalter was driving his silver four-door Infiniti G37 X home from a charity event at a golf course and was turning left at an intersection on 122 Street near the on-ramp to Whitemud Drive when the accident happened.

Christina Shi-Jin Goh, 26, died after her body slammed into the side of Bookhalter’s car and her boyfriend, Michael Liu, suffered serious injuries after he was thrown from the bike.

Bookhalter said he felt and heard a “bump” and believed he had hit a pothole or some other imperfection in the road.

A few seconds later the side airbag deployed, which he put down to striking the pothole, and that obscured his view, he testified.

Bookhalter testified that he never saw the motorcycle or its passengers and didn’t see anything in his mirrors after the accident.

Witnesses to the crash followed Bookhalter, a chartered accountant, to his home and called police, who arrived a short time later. Officers questioned Bookhalter about the damage to his vehicle and what he knew of the accident. Later that night, he was charged after Goh died.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas found the Crown failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Bookhalter knew Goh and Liu had suffered bodily injury or that Goh had died, or that he intentionally failed to stop so that he could escape civil or criminal liability.

Thomas, who described the events as “tragic” and an “unfortunate accident,” found Bookhalter’s testimony to be reliable and credible and failed to see inconsistencies and contradictions that formed the basis of the Crown’s case.

Bookhalter declined to comment at the conclusion of the case, but his defence lawyer, Kent Teskey, said: “The decision speaks for itself.”

The Crown is considering an appeal.