Witnesses describe crash scene as manslaughter trial continues

She said Dick’s head was rolling back and forth so she supported it with her knees. Lytle noted Dick was having trouble breathing and was unresponsive. She also remembered there being a “lot of glass and a lot of blood” underneath him.

Lytle said she spoke to a bald man who was standing near Dick but was not helping him.

“He was just standing there,” she said.

She recalled the man telling her Dick had stolen a vehicle and was being followed when he lost control and hit the ditch.

When asked by the Crown who the bald man was, she identified Daniel Newsham sitting in the courtroom.

However, under cross-examination Lytle admitted she didn’t get a good look at the man she spoke to at the scene and that it’s possible it wasn’t Newsham.

“You can’t be sure this is the man you were speaking with?” defence lawyer Balfour Der asked about Newsham.

“True, yes,” Lytle replied.

Jordan Yasinkski, who arrived at the scene a short time after the crash occurred, told court he knew Newsham from “around town” and that he had a “pretty noticeable truck” in reference to his orange Dodge pickup.

Yasinkski said he saw Newsham standing near a police car with two other men.

“He didn’t seem like he was upset,” Yasinkski testified. “(He was) confident… didn’t seem very stirred up about what happened.”

Der noted Yasinkski shared a different story in his initial statement to RCMP, telling police, “It didn’t seem like he was completely all there. He was shook up or off.”

Yasinkski said Newsham told him he was a part of a neighbourhood watch group and had chased somebody from Delburne, but did not say who it was.

Yasinski admitted under cross-examination that he may have mixed up information that came from Newsham and another man who was there.

“(That) could have happened, yes.”

Der also challenged Yasinski over whether he heard the word ‘chase’ used during that crash site conversation, reminding Yasinski he told police “He said he was chasing them, I think.”

Yasinski acknowledged the discrepancy.

An RCMP collision analyst is scheduled to testify Thursday and will be the Crown’s final witness. The defence could have all of its evidence presented by Friday afternoon.

by Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Witnesses describe crash scene as manslaughter trial continues

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