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Vernon  

Officer on trial for fatal crash

The RCMP officer involved in a fatal crash that killed a 21-year-old woman, sits before a judge this week in Salmon Arm, facing a charge of dangerous driving.

RCMP officer, Micah Chan, was charged in 2013 after he was involved in a high-speed chase that ended in the death of a Cherryville Resident.

Courtenay Brianne Eggen died when the vehicle she was driving crashed into the back of a parked dump truck while fleeing from police.

The charges were laid nearly 6-months after the incident when the province’s Independent Investigations Office released their findings, that indicated Chan might have committed an offence.

At the time of the incident, RCMP reported that Chan had observed Eggen’s vehicle blow through a stop sign and that began the brief pursuit. RCMP claimed the chase was terminated before Eggen lost control and crashed.

Chan’s vehicle also ended up off the road, a fact not originally released by police.

At the time of the incident, witnesses told Castanet a very different story from the RCMP, a story of careless and reckless driving that endangered citizens and Eggen, a story the Crown is now trying to prove.

This week in the Salmon Arm Law Courts, Crown Counsel presents their case. So far fellow police officers, including ones involved that night, have taken the stand, as well as expert witnesses, with more expected this week.

Wednesday in court,  a forensic video analyst with the IIO spent hours going over mere minutes of video to determine what order the cars were moving in, which direction, which cars were civilian and which weren’t and how fast the vehicles were going.

Eggen’s parents sat stoically in the back of the Salmon Arm courtroom, as they endured the same few minutes of video over and over and over again, as lawyers debated over types of cars and time points. The video showed their daughter’s car’s abrupt stop, the crash into the dump truck that killed her.  

Chan’s defense lawyer Neville McDougall told Castanet Wednesday afternoon that Chan’s career is very important to him and that he is very upset about what happened. He says he does not want to lose sight of the fact Eggen died, but does not believe it was dangerous driving on Chan’s part.

Chan remains on duty but McDougall notes a conviction could severely affect his position with the RCMP.

The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday and into next week.



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