The defence for a Pembroke dentist accused of impaired driving causing death first made the suggestion Wednesday that the victim had alcohol in his system too.
Michael Edelson, defence lawyer for Christy Natsis, questioned paramedic Brock Smith about what he experienced while treating Bryan Casey, who later died of his injuries.
“Did you smell alcohol” while treating Casey, Edelson asked – to which Smith replied that he didn’t.
“Are you aware that Casey had a considerable amount of alcohol on board?” Edelson then asked, to which Smith also replied “No.”
Edelson then said “But you’re adding fresh fluids without alcohol to his body” while giving him bags of blood and saline solution.
“Yes,” Smith replied.
The paramedic also testified about his treatment of Natsis and Casey at the Highway 17 crash scene the night of March 31, 2011.
“This is one of the worst accidents that I’ve been involved in,” he said. “The doctor in the back was yelling ‘Go faster, go faster’ (en route to the hospital).”
Before that, Smith said he could smell alcohol coming off Natsis – coming so strong he had to turn on the exhaust fan in the back of his ambulance to clear the air.
Smith said her behaviour was “demanding, standoffish and uncooperative.”
“She wasn’t walking in a straight line . . . her body was weaving back and forth,” Smith testified. “There wasn’t concern for the other patient, it was getting a lawyer.”
Edelson then asked Smith why, if she was weaving around and asking for a lawyer, he didn’t put that into his report.
Smith replied he should have spent more time writing out his report, as Edelson suggested he was embellishing and exaggerating on the stand.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Catherine Lathem
