The police officer that arrested former Richmond RCMP Cpl. Benjamin "Monty" Robinson testified Tuesday she believed he was impaired at the time of a fatal crash.
Robinson is facing an obstruction of justice charge stemming from his actions following the Oct. 25, 2008 collision that killed 21-year-old Orion Hutchinson. Hutchinson died after the motorcycle he was driving collided with Robinson's Jeep at the corner of 6th Avenue and Gilchrist Drive in Tsawwassen.Robinson's trial, which began Monday in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, is scheduled to run for eight days.
Delta police Const. Sarah Swallow said she first approached Robinson at the scene of the crash believing he was a bystander. When she told him to move away from the area, she told the court he said words to the effect: "I believe you're probably looking for me. I'm the driver."Swallow said she noticed Robinson was pale and seemed to have a "very dry mouth." She said his eyes were slightly unfocused."I smelled alcohol about his person," she said.
Swallow said when she asked Robinson, who was off-duty at the time, if he had been drinking that night, he told her he had two beers at a party earlier and two shots of vodka at home to calm his nerves after the crash. The officer told Robinson she didn't believe him."I felt that the symptoms that I was seeing on him were more established than two shots of vodka in the last 10 minutes," she said.
Swallow said she told Robinson he was under arrest for impaired driving causing death and took him to police headquarters in Ladner for a breathalyzer test. Robinson was one of the four Richmond RCMP officers involved in the Tasering death of Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14, 2007 at Vancouver International Airport. He faces perjury charges related to that case. The trial is set for April 8, 2013.
In his opening statements Monday, Crown prosecutor Kris Pechet painted a picture of a man who knew exactly what he was doing in the moments following the crash.
Pechet told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillion that Robinson, described as a veteran member of the force, had completed a 2005 breathalyzer training course, which included the defences of impaired driving.
The Crown will also call a witness from a 2007 Christmas party where Robinson allegedly said the best way to beat an impaired driving charge is to leave your driver's licence at the scene, go over to a nearby bar and down a few shots, saying you did so because you were shaken up from the crash, Pechet said.
Emotions ran high in court as the first Crown witnesses testified. Judith Hutchinson, Orion's mother, wept in the gallery as the court heard from a Crown witness who was on the scene of the crash mere moments after it occurred.
Dale Hazel had been watching a Canucks game at a friend's house that night and was getting ready to leave when they heard a loud bang.
The two men went outside to see what had happened.
Hazel said Robinson approached him and his friend, told them to dial 911 and tried to give him his driver's licence as he left the scene of the crash with his two children, aged 12 and seven at the time. Hazel said he refused to take it, but another person did.
"He was quite anxious to get away from the scene, in my opinion."
Hazel also described seeing two women attempting to find Hutchinson's pulse and perform CPR before emergency responders arrived.
The court also heard from the woman who hosted the Halloween party Robinson had attended with his children before the crash. She said she had seen Robinson with a drink in the hours he was at the party, but could not recall what he was drinking or how many.
Robinson's obstruction of justice charge stems from his actions following the crash. The officer left the scene of the collision, which occurred at about 10: 30 p.m., and walked home, a short distance away.
He returned 10 minutes later and advised police he had two beers at a party earlier and two shots of vodka at home.
He was arrested and given two breathalyzer tests at 11: 56 p.m. and 12: 16 a.m. Robinson's readings registered at .12 and .10. The legal limit is .08.
Delta police recommended Robinson be charged with impaired driving causing death, but Crown counsel decided not to proceed with the charge.
Before court started Monday, Hutchinson made an emotional statement to reporters gathered outside the courthouse.
"It is incomprehensible to us and an outrage that it has taken almost three and a half years to come to this point," she said.
"During which time this person has continued to receive full pay with benefits while we've suffered."
"Regardless of the outcome, nothing can make our loss less painful," she said. "We reverently hope that the outcome of the trial ensures that this individual is not permitted to continue in a position of public trust because given his track record we feel that would be an utter and complete travesty."
Robinson, 42, was the senior officer on duty when Dziekanski, 40, died at Vancouver International Airport after he was repeatedly shot with a Taser stun gun on Oct. 14, 2007.
Thomas Braidwood, the retired judge who headed a public inquiry into the tragedy, found the four officers mishandled the situation by approaching Dziekanski as though they were dealing with a pub brawl instead of a distraught and exhausted visitor who had spent more than 10 hours in the airport after arriving from Poland.
The Crown concluded there was no wrongdoing on the part of the officers, so charges were never laid. But after Braidwood's report found the officers' testimony was "unbelievable," a government appointed special prosecutor recommended Robinson and three other Mounties involved in the Dziekanski incident should be charged with perjury.
Perjury charges were approved by the Crown in March of last year.
Check back here for more updates on this story later today and the rest of this week.
