WARNING: Some readers may find the details and videos in this story to be disturbing.
On the third day of a trial for the man accused of attacking a police officer and then using a U-Haul van to run over pedestrians in downtown Edmonton, court heard from several witnesses.
On Sept. 30, 2017, a couple was walking their dogs near Commonwealth Stadium when they heard a vehicle rev.
“We looked over because I knew the cop was there,” Jessica Nikish told court on Friday. “I saw him get hit and fly.”
Nikish testified that she ran over to help the officer, Const. Mike Chernyk.
“I’m here for you. I’m calling 911. What do you need?” she told him.
“He recognized I was there for him but he was on his radio… ‘Officer down.'”
Her boyfriend Jacob Prince went over to check on the driver of the car but then starting yelling: “He has a knife. Run, run, run!”
Nikish said she ran behind a truck and watched the attack.
“We saw a guy wrestling with the officer, stabbing him… finally the cop got ahead and then the guy ran to his car for something and took off down 92 Street.”
She was asked what was going through her head at that time.
“That we’re going to have to help him because he can’t die there,” Nikish replied.
She described the demeanor of the man who attacked the officer as “very calm.”
Watch below: On Day 2 of Abdulahi Hasan Sharif’s attempted murder trial, jurors were shown several surveillance video, some of which showed a van hitting pedestrians. WARNING: This video may be disturbing to some viewers.
Prince then took the stand. He explained that initially, he thought the car hitting the officer was an accident.
“I came over to the officer and I remember bending down,” Prince testified. “I told him that it was going to be OK.
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“I remember turning around and looking up and a guy was coming towards us, and I thought he was going to come over to help. Then he pulled out a knife and… fell purposefully onto the officer and he drove that knife into his chest.”
Prince said he didn’t see the suspect exit the car but he heard the car door open and then close. He also said it was the only vehicle nearby at the time.
Another witness told court he saw the driver of the car get out of the vehicle, walk up to the police officer and stab him.
Delaney Quinton, who was picking up wine at a store close to the scene, teared up while recalling what she saw.
“I remember seeing him (the suspect) not really run. I remember him striding towards him quickly,” Quinton said. “And he came up from the officer’s feet and then that’s when he bent down and started stabbing him.”
Quinton said he yelled that the man had a knife and then ran.
“I felt that we were all in danger,” he said. “So I ran for my life.”
He told court he looked back and saw “the officer and the guy wrestling on the ground. The guy was trying to grab the officer’s gun.”
Abdulahi Hasan Sharif is facing 11 charges, including five counts of attempted murder, in connection with the events that unfolded two years ago.
Sharif, who has been in custody since the incident, is representing himself in his trial. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges laid against him.
He has so far declined to ask any questions of witnesses.
On Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Wheaton said that a number of people came to Chernyk’s aid after he was initially hit by the car but that they fled after the driver approached and began trying to stab the officer in the head.
On Thursday, Chernyk shared an emotional account of what happened to him.
The trial is expected to last six weeks.
— With files from Fletcher Kent
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