Sukhvinder Singh Rai back in court

They all saw the same thing; a dump truck with a raised bin stuck in the scaffolding after crashing into the Skyway Bridge. They also expressed the same feeling: confusion.

This morning, three men who were working on the refurbishment of the bridge back on July 31st, 2014 testified at the trial of Sukhvinder Singh Rai. Rai is facing four charges related to the crash.

Trevor Sallenger, Geoff VanZandwijk, and Paul Chubb were each present at the moment when the truck hit the bridge.

VanZandwijk was near the top of the bridge. He said that he witnessed “a truck with its bin raised moving up the bridge.” He thought that there was no danger because of an early detection system which was in place to alert workers of possible impact from vehicles that were too high.  It failed.

The truck crashed into the scaffolding at around 3:45pm.  Paul Chubb who was working inside the scaffolding described “a cloud of dust and debris” coming from the site.

All three of the men saw the truck driver.  They said he was a man who did not speak English who left the truck after the crash. Trevor Sallenger says that he thought the driver was “in shock.”

All three of them say that the driver tried to return to the truck to retrieve his cell phone. They all advised him not to fear that the bridge was not stable.

All of the men who testified this morning say that they did not notice an odour of any kind on the driver.

They described the driver as a man, wearing a turban, with a cut on his head.

Sukhvinder Singh Rai was in court today with an interpreter at his side. The accused has worn a turban to court previously, but now he has short hair and a well kept goatee.

The trial continues this afternoon.