Medical examiner testifies in careless driving trial

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on September 1, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A medical professional and multiple Lethbridge Police officers took the stand on day three of a trial for a case involving an incident that took place over two years ago where a 10-year-old boy was killed.

The Crown questioned Dr. Eric Bol, five LPS officers and one former LPS officer during day three of the trial.

Neil Martin Skjodt, 55, was charged after 10-year-old boy, Charles McIntyre, was struck and killed by a motor vehicle April 13, 2020. According to police, an SUV turning right onto Whoop-Up Drive near Aquitania Boulevard struck two young boys crossing in the crosswalk with their father. The older boy died in the hospital.

Skjodt pleaded not guilty several months later to a single charge of careless driving under the Traffic Safety Act. He was charged under the Act rather than the Criminal Code after investigating officers determined the incident was not a criminal offence. The charge allows for a maximum fine of $2,000 or six months in jail, or both, and possibly licence suspension.

On day three, Dr. Eric Bol was the first witness to testify via Webex, and he was questioned about Charles McIntyre’s height, weight and body mass index (BMI).

While being cross-examined by Lethbridge lawyer Greg White for the defence, he was made aware of a mistake made in regard to McIntyre’s height as he had recorded it as 170 centimetres, and after reviewing the examination’s photographs, he realized that the height written in the identification tag placed on the toe of the deceased, which is where he would have obtained the information, could be read as 140 centimetres but was poorly written by the morgue technician.

After Dr. Bol, the Crown called Const. Allister Koop to the stand. He was the first officer to arrive at the scene the day of the incident.

Const. Koop said he inquired about the driver when he arrived at the scene and he was pointed in the accused’s direction. He asked him if he was the driver and proceeded to ask him for his licence.

He said in total he spent approximately two hours with the driver, who he later identified in the courtroom as the accused.

Const. Koop said that when he offered Skjodt some water, he said no and then proceeded to state “I didn’t see them, I checked and there were no cars coming, so I started to go and…” at that point Const. Koop said Skjodt stopped talking.

Koop was not cross-examined by the defence.

Next on the stand was Sgt. Bruce Hagel, who was the second officer to arrive on the scene. He said he was at the scene as a supervisor to make sure the resources were where they needed to be and to lock down the area to contain it. He was also not cross-examined by the defence.

Sgt. Jason Leblanc took the stand next. He was the third officer to arrive on the scene. He said he parked his patrol car to help block traffic from entering the collision scene. He also said he took an audio statement from eyewitness Emma Bauer at the scene.

Former LPS officer with the traffic response unit, Jason Derby, attended court via Webex testifying he was at the scene to assist the collision reconstructionist with taking measurements and doing a scene examination as well as taking care of the investigation going forward.

He testified that on May 13, 2020 he served the accused with a ticket for careless driving.

During cross-examination, White asked him if any measurements were taken from the road to the bottom of the black SUV, or the vehicle’s height or the driver’s seat height, to which Derby answered he was unaware of any measurements taken for that specific purpose, and he did not take any himself.

Const. Wes Olsen took the stand next and testified about a re-enactment video he had made at the scene a few days later. He was cross examined by White about the vehicle frame pillar of the windshield creating a blind spot in the video, as it showed two pedestrians crossing the crosswalk and disappearing behind the windshield pillar.

Today the Crown is expected to interview their last two witnesses, which they hope will be completed by noon.

– with files from Delon Shurtz

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