Rai trial day 9

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He’s not off the hook, but he’s half way. At this point, Sukhvinder Singh Rai faces two charges related to the crash on the Skyway Bridge. They are dangerous driving, and mischief endangering life.

This afternoon the defence called it’s one and only witness, an expert on hydraulics, James Hooey a teacher from Centennial College.

Hooey says that tests run on the lift system of the truck that crashed into the Skyway Bridge were flawed and that it is possible that residual pressure inside the system could have caused the bin to raise on it’s own

Yesterday court heard from the Crowns expert in hydraulic Randy Lamey. He is the one who did the testing seen in the video. He said that the system was in working order, and the dump box “needed a command” in order to lift. Hooey contends that because the testing was, in his opinion, flawed, there is no way to know how well the system was working.

The dangerous driving and mischief charges remain after justice Fred Campling acquitted the 36 year old, on charges of impaired driving and impaired driving with a blood alcohol content over .80.

The acquittal comes after breathalyzer evidence gathered by the OPP was ruled inadmissible because officers waited too long to demand a breath sample from Rai. Under the criminal code, a breath demand must be made within three hours of a person driving.

Rai crashed his dump truck into the Skyway Bridge at 3:35pm on July 31st, 2014. OPP Constable Andrew Halliday testified that he did not smell alcohol on Rai’s breath until after 7pm that day. A formal request for a breath sample was not made until 7:22pm, nearly four hours after the crash.

In subsequent breath tests, that were also ruled inadmissible, Rai blew a .226 and .220, nearly three times the legal limit.

Yesterday the Crown wrapped it’s case with a confirmation that liquid found in a bottle inside the truck Rai was driving was consistent with vodka or gin.

The trail is adjourned until next week, when court will hear charter arguments from the defence on Monday. It is expected that Justice Campling will have a decision sometime next week.