Nineteen-year-old Robert Wasyliw testified yesterday on the first day of the impaired driving trial of Douglas Kurtis Brown, the Edmonton police officer accused of blowing a red light around 2 a.m. on May 11, allegedly T-boning the teen’s vehicle and seriously injuring him.
“I remember having drips of flame hit me from the passenger’s side,” Wasyliw recalled. “I huddled up to keep the flames from hitting me. I just remember being balled up in a little ball on the ground.”
As a result of the accident, Wasyliw spent two weeks in hospital for treatment of second- and third-degree burns.
Defence lawyer Peter Northcott challenged Wasyliw’s claim he’d only had a few sips of beer before the accident, suggesting the teen told emergency room doctors he’d had three or four beers that night. Wasyliw denied the suggestion.
Brown is charged with five counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, five counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and one count of driving with a blood alcohol reading over the limit.
