Video shows SUV passing vehicle before girl hit at Saanich crosswalk
11-year-old Leila Bui suffered catastrophic injuries in crash on way to school
Eleven-year-old Leila Bui was struck by a Mercedes SUV travelling at a minimum speed of 53 kilometres per hour and as much as 67 km/h, a Saanich police collision analyst testified
Thursday in Victoria provincial court.
Leila was on her way to school on the morning of Dec. 20, 2017, when she was struck in a crosswalk at Ash Road and Torquay Drive. She suffered catastrophic injuries, including severe brain damage.
Sgt. Alan Gurzinski took the stand at Tenessa Nikirk’s trial for dangerous driving causing bodily harm. The Victoria woman, who is in her early 20s, was behind the wheel of the black SUV that struck Leila at 8:15 a.m.
Gurzinsky testified that he and Const. Dion Birtwistle went to the scene the morning of the collision. They were advised that when Leila was struck, she came to rest beside the left rear wheel of a car parked on Ash Road.
Gurzinski calculated that the distance Leila travelled from the east side of the crosswalk was 24.43 metres or 80 feet. The distance from the west side of the crosswalk to her final resting position was 27.38 metres or nearly 90 feet, he said.
Gurzinski then calculated that if Leila was hit on the east side of the crosswalk, the SUV was travelling at a minimum speed of 53 km/h and a maximum speed of 64 km/h.
If Leila was hit on the west side of the crosswalk, the SUV was travelling between 56 and 67 km/h when it hit Leila.
Birtwistle testified that when he arrived at the scene at 10:20 a.m., the ground was wet and a yellow flashing traffic warning light was working correctly for Ash Road. The speed limit on the road is an unposted 50 km/h and there were no tire marks from the SUV on the road, he said.
Birtwistle testified that later in the investigation, he and Gurzinski did demonstration drives in a 1999 Mercedes similar to the one driven by Nikirk.
The collision analyst said heading east on Ash Road, he could first see the flashing yellow warning light from a distance of 308 metres. He could first see the crosswalk sign at a distance of 281 metres.
Birtwistle testified that he could see a silver tripod — the same height as Leila — in the middle of the crosswalk from a distance of 246 metres.
The white marks of the crosswalk came into view from a distance of 49.4 metres, Birtwistle testified.
After the Crown closed its case on Thursday, defence lawyer Tom Morino began his case, submitting a review of the Ash Road and Torquay Drive intersection done by the Saanich engineering department.
The report found that from 2012 to 2016, there were six collisions at the intersection, four involving injury.
Judge Mayland McKimm approved Morino’s request to go to the scene, after Morino said he needed the court to see the long, straight stretch on Ash Road before drivers head up a hill.
“It is critically important for the way in which the intersection comes into view,” said Morino.
On Monday, McKimm, Morino, Crown prosecutor Jess Patterson and the court clerk will drive the route taken by Nikirk on the morning of the collision. Their drive will start at the Beach House Restaurant on Cordova Bay Road, which is where Crown witness Samantha Etzel first noticed Nikirk following her car closely. Etzel testified that the black SUV was so close, she couldn’t see the front of the car in her rearview mirror.
Etzel said she saw the driver constantly looking up and down as if she were sending text messages.
After Etzel turned onto Ash Road, the SUV passed her and another car.
McKimm also approved an application by the Times Colonist and other media to release videos captured on the front and rear dash cam of the vehicle driven by Crown witness Julia Fellman.
The videos show the black Mercedes SUV driven by Nikirk passing Felllman’s vehicle on Ash Road on the morning of Dec. 20, 2017.