Man asked for gum after fatal crash

Driver accused of being drunk in 2013 accident

KITCHENER — Minutes after a rented U-Haul truck slammed into a disabled car on Highway 7/8, fatally injuring a toddler, the truck driver asked for gum, a court has heard.

The driver, Hugh Brake, later failed a breathalyzer test and is on trial on seven charges, including impaired driving caus- ing death.

Courtney Ropp testified on Thursday that she saw the U-Haul at the side of the road soon after the crash and also saw the toddler’s father. “He was holding the baby and the baby looked unconscious.”

Ropp was travelling in a car with her boyfriend who helped Brake move earlier in the day. The car had been travelling not far behind the U-Haul.

When Ropp and her boyfriend reached the accident scene, “Hugh came up beside us and asked if we could take him to the store to get some gum,” Ropp said. “We both

said no.”

She said Brake, a 56-year-old Kitchener man, didn’t say why he wanted gum.

Questioned by assistant Crown attorney Tricia Holmes, Ropp said Brake “seemed upset and he seemed a little wobbly and offput.”

Defence lawyer Richard Marchak pointed out that Ropp did not say at a court hearing in 2014 that Brake asked them to drive him to a store but simply asked if they had gum.

Ropp’s boyfriend, Eric Prokpokowicz, said he saw Brake drinking beer earlier in the day but was unsure how much.

“No one looked like they were even remotely impaired,” Prokpokowicz told Marchak.

The crash happened in the early evening of March 16, 2013, on Highway 7/8, west of Fischer-Hallman Road in Kitchener. Mo Zhu was driving his family home to Stratford when his Volkswagen Jetta broke down. A construction barrier prevented him from pulling onto the shoulder.

Zhu got out to wave traffic around his car while his 17-month-old daughter, Angelina Zhu, and his wife, Cong Shen, remained in the car. Zhu said the U-Haul driver ignored his hand gestures and the truck slammed into the back of his car.

The child was airlifted to a Hamilton hospital but died. Zhu’s wife suffered six broken ribs and a broken arm.

At the crash scene, Brake smelled of alcohol, swayed and had a slight slur and red, glossy eyes, said Michael Gordon, who was a sergeant with Cambridge OPP. “He was clearly intoxicated by alcohol.” Gordon said Brake also had a small bag of what looked like marijuana. Brake was arrested, handcuffed and read his rights.

Cross-examined by Marchak, the officer said he doesn’t recall which words Brake slurred. He said he had never met Brake and “I do not know his normal speech.”

Gordon agreed with Marchak that alcohol is not the only cause of red eyes.

Brake smelled of beer a few hours before the crash when he went to Hayward Self Storage in Kitchener to rent a unit, said Claudette Roy, who worked there. Knowing Brake was driving a vehicle, Roy said she thought about informing a police officer who was parked not far from the business. She ended up not talking to the officer.