The trial opened in Red Deer on Monday for a Lloydminster woman accused of dangerous driving in connection with a fatal collision near Content Bridge in the late summer of 2010.
Cherish Elsie Schutte, 24, has admitted to driving a northbound pickup truck that allegedly ran a stop sign and struck a westbound pickup truck at the junction of Hwys 11 and 21 just before noon on Aug. 29, 2010.
Donna Ann Johnson, 47, of Parkside, Sask., was killed at the scene. Eric Comeau of Consort, 26 at the time of the crash, was injured.
Police reported at the time that Johnson was a passenger in the northbound pickup while Comeau was the driver and sole occupant of the westbound pickup truck.
Comeau and members of his family attended the trial on Monday, but he will not be called to testify.
In his instructions to the jury, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Peter McIntyre said they are not there to determine whether Schutte caused the collision, but whether or not she is guilty of dangerous driving resulting in Johnson’s death and Comeau’s injuries.
Fort McMurray resident Graham Elliot Ure, who was returning home from Delburne, testified that was been heading north on Hwy 21 at about 105 km/h when a white pickup truck passed him just before the river crossing south of the Hwy 11 intersection.
Ure, 31, testified that he noted nothing unusual about the pickup truck when it went by.
He said he reached down for a drink from his water bottle and looked up in time to see dust from the collision.
Ure testified that northbound traffic is controlled by a stop sign with a blinking light on top that he believes was working properly at the time. He confirmed that there is also a set of rumble strips to warn drivers of the stop.
He could not recall whether there were other warnings of a major intersection ahead.
Crown prosecutor Tony Bell said he plans to call additional witnesses, including other drivers and emergency personnel, who overheard Schutte state that she had not noticed the stop sign.
An RCMP collision reconstructionist is to take the stand today, after which Calgary lawyer Eamon O’Keeffe will open his defence.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com