The trial for a City of Lethbridge employee who was operating a front-end loader when a mini-van crashed into it on Whoop-Up Drive in 2015 continued on Tuesday.
The operator, Scott Erickson, is facing a charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Day two of the trial began with the cross-examination of a Lethbridge police officer originally tasked with the collision re-construction.
Const. Brent Paxman, a collision analyst with Lethbridge Police, was asked if a re-enactment was done on the anniversary of the crash to determine sun glare. He said no and admitted that a re-enactment could have been helpful in the investigation.
He followed by saying it would have been impossible to guarantee the same weather conditions a year after the incident.
Step-son of the 72-year-old man who died, Alan Johnston, said the trial has been their first chance at getting answers.
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“At this point, it’s not going to change nothing. What is going to change is that we will know what happened to dad.”
A GPS map was also shown during the second day of the trial, indicating the movements the loader made on Whoop-Up Drive.
It shows the loader going north and south a number of times and crossing all three lanes of traffic 10 times.
Transportation Operations Manager Lee Perkins also took the stand. He manages the supervisors and foreman above Erickson when the collision took place.
Perkins testified the city has snow removal policies and procedures, adding that in the eight years he’s been in his role, he was unaware of a front-end loader ever being used to remove snow off the median.
“A reasonable person would not do it during high traffic,” Perkins told court.
He added that there are no safety procedures specific to front-end loaders attempting snow removal on Whoop-Up Drive. When asked why, he testified: “That’s not something they would do. That is not standard practice for how we operate.”
During the cross-examination, Perkins recalled a conversation he had with two foremen after the collision. He said he asked which one of them knew what Erickson was doing on Whoop-Up Drive. One foreman answered, saying he knew what was happening. Perkins then told him to go speak to police.
The trial is scheduled to run for three more days. There will be a break on Wednesday before the trial resumes on Thursday.
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