Horn hit to alert driver but it was too late, trial told
Girl struck in Saanich crosswalk
When Shawn Steele saw a black SUV heading west on Ash Road toward the intersection with Torquay Drive on the morning of Dec. 20, 2017, he knew it was coming too fast.
“I noticed the vehicle was not attempting to slow down, so I hit my horn to alert the driver that there was a pedestrian in the midst of crossing. But it was too late before the collision occurred,” Steele said at the trial of Tenessa Nikirk, who is charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
The Victoria woman, who is in her early 20s, was behind the wheel of a black Mercedes that struck 11-year-old Leila Bui in the crosswalk at Ash Road and Torquay Drive in Saanich. Leila received catastrophic brain injuries, including brain damage to both hemispheres, a fractured neck and a lacerated spleen.
The Crown’s theory is that Nikirk showed a pattern of dangerous driving on that cold, icy morning, said prosecutor Jess Patterson.
Expert witnesses and collision analysts are expected to testify about the speed her black Mercedes was going.
Court heard Monday that Nikirk was sending and receiving texts as she drove along Cordova Bay and Ash roads and was speeding as she passed two cars on a single yellow line. Admissions of fact read into the court record show that between 8 a.m. and 8:20 a.m., Nikirk sent 11 text messages and received 13 texts from a 604 number. Leila was struck between 8:15 and 8:16 a.m.
Steele, who was heading north on Torquay Drive, testified that he saw Leila looking in both directions for a safe opportunity to cross the street.
He also saw the SUV coming up the steep hill and, with his window open, heard “what sounded like a vehicle accelerating” when he approached the intersection.
Steele said he couldn’t estimate how fast the black SUV was going as it headed into the intersection. “I can’t say how fast, just too fast,” he testified.
The SUV did not slow down or take evasive action before it hit Leila, who was only two or three steps into the crosswalk, he said.
Steele said he saw Leila strike the centre of the hood and start to go under the SUV. At that point, the driver of the SUV hit the brakes and Leila was ejected and ended up under another car on the other side of the road, he testified.
Steele got out of his car and ran over to the young girl, who was breathing. He called 911.
During cross-examination on Tuesday, Steele told defence lawyer Tom Morino that he had almost been in a collision in the same intersection, which he considers unsafe. That morning, he stopped at the stop line on Torquay, then inched forward to see around the corner.
Morino asked Steele to look at two statements he made to police about the collision. Steele agreed that he told police that when he first saw Nikirk’s SUV coming up the hill, he “thought nothing of it.”
Steele also told police that people accelerate up the steep hill on icy days to retain traction. “If people slow down, they may start slipping if it’s icy,” he said.
Drivers coming up the hill have limited visibility, said Steele. He told police Leila’s height might have been a factor in whether Nikirk saw her.
“It’s maybe not as easy to see a shorter person,” testified Steele, who said it might also have been difficult for Leila to see the car.
Xin Hao and her husband, Zhao Liu, were driving down Ash Road toward Mount Douglas just before Leila was struck.
“I saw a little girl who was trying to cross the street. I was going to stop in front of the crosswalk and I saw another car that was going to turn right fully stop as well,” testified Hao.
The girl checked right and left, then started to run across the crosswalk before she was hit by a black SUV, said Hao.
“Are you able to say how fast it was going?” asked Patterson.
“It was over the speed limit for sure,” said Hao, who estimated the black SUV was travelling 60 kilometres an hour when it hit Leila.
Leila flew a few metres when she was struck by the car, said Hao. “I didn’t think the SUV tried to stop.”
After the driver hit the girl, she got out of the SUV and left the door open. Hao testified she could clearly hear loud pop music coming from the car.
During cross-examination, Morino asked Hao about her statement to police, in which she said the girl was standing behind the car that was going to turn right.
“Your answer today is that from your position, you couldn’t say if she was fully behind the car or not,” said Morino.
“I can see she is not fully behind the car, but I don’t know if the SUV can see her,” Hao replied.
Liu also testified that Leila ran in the crosswalk after checking for traffic. “She was not sprinting, but when she got hit, she was running,” said Liu, who speculated Leila saw the vehicle, then started running.
Liu, too, said he heard loud music when Nikirk opened her car door.
James Weeks, an investigator with B.C. Transit, also took the stand Tuesday, testifying about videos captured by cameras on a bus that was passing through the area just before the collision.
Court was shown a video of Nikirk’s SUV as it passed the bus, which was heading in the opposite direction, toward Mount Douglas.
Judge Mayland McKimm asked Weeks if it was reasonable to infer anything from the speed the vehicle appears to be going as it passes the bus. “My instinct is that the speed of the SUV is significantly faster than the other cars,” McKimm said.
Weeks said he was unable to answer the question and could only make a guess.