WINNIPEG — A 70-year-old Manitoba man pleaded not guilty Tuesday at the start of his trial for the death of highway construction flagger Brittany Murray, 21.
“This is a case of speed and lack of attention,” Crown prosecutor Craig Savage told a packed courtroom at the start of Mitchell Blostein’s trial on a charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Murray died on Oct. 18, 2010, while working in a construction zone on Highway 207 in the Rural Municipality of Springfield.
Corut was told Blostein drove 112 kilometres per hour through the construction zone, rather than the 60 km/hour signed limit.
Murray was wearing a bright orange vest and a hard hat when she was hit.
Construction worker Ryan Doerksen testified he saw a white car pulled to the side of the road but didn’t think anything of it at first.
He didn’t see or hear the crash, he said, but heard a noise he later realized was Blostein “screaming” after he hit Murray.
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Doerksen said he drove 200 metres to where the noise was and saw Murray lying face down with a group of motorists who had stopped around her.
“Another driver was already on the phone to 911,” Doerksen testified. “He instructed me to roll her over and give her CPR.”
He gave her CPR until paramedics arrived 15 minutes later and took Murray to the hospital.
Paramedic Ryan Fortescue said he continued to give Murray CPR on the way to St. Boniface hospital.
She had earphones in her ears but there was no iPod on her, he testified.
The courtroom was filled with family and friends of both Blostein and Murray.
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