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Trial begins for man charged with impaired driving in 2015 collision

Nov 27, 2017 | 9:59 AM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The trial for a Cypress County man arrested following an impaired driving collision nearly two years ago which injured four people, including a newborn baby, is now underway.

The trial of Curtis Beisel began Monday at Medicine Hat Provincial Court. Beisel was charged on January 6, 2016, in connection with a collision on the Trans-Canada Highway on December 17, 2015.

Police allege Beisel was driving a Chrysler sedan east in the westbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway when the sedan collided with a Dodge Journey travelling west near Dunmore.

Three of the four occupants of the Dodge Journey, including a baby which was seven days old at the time, suffered serious injuries. 

Two people, including a passenger from the Chrysler, were later airlifted to a Calgary hospital.

RCMP Corporal Braden Stephenson was the first to testify via CCTV from Nunavut where he is currently stationed.

He was working as a member with the Redcliff RCMP detachment in 2015 and was on duty when the call came in.

He and another officer were dispatched to the scene.

Stephenson said when he arrived he went to the Dodge first, and saw two women on the ground, screaming in pain.

He went over to the Chrysler and noticed a passenger there also yelling out.

Stephenson testified when he had a chance to approach Beisel and ask him what happened, he could smell the alcohol on his breath.

He also testified Beisel’s speech was slurred and his eyes were red and watery.

Stephenson also repeated several times that Beisel seemed confused and kept repeating the other vehicle had hit him.

“He could not wrap his mind around driving on the other side of the road,” Stephenson told the court. “The other vehicle, in his mind, was at fault.”

During cross examination, Beisel’s lawyer Lyndon Heidinger questioned the confused state Stephenson believed Beisel was in.

“At one point he leaned over me and yelled at the other driver that they had hit him,” he told the court.

Stephanson told the court it wasn’t until Beisel was loaded into the ambulance and strapped in that he was told he was under arrest for impaired driving.

Hedinger went on question how the blood sample that was taken was sealed, inferring to Stephenson it could have been exposed to contaminants.

A blood forensic expert with the RCMP is expected to testify later this week about Beisel’s blood alcohol level at the time.

Beisel was in court Monday, sitting on the defendant’s table with Heidinger, showing little emotion as he wrote a few notes.

Beisel was charged with four counts of of impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, four counts of exceeding .08 causing bodily harm and four counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The trial is scheduled for at least three days and will resume on Thursday.