A woman hopped into the truck that allegedly later struck a man who died from injuries suffered when he was run over two springs ago, a jury heard Monday during the opening day of a manslaughter trial.
Along with manslaughter, Gordon Mayward Kerr, 51, also faces a charge of criminal negligence causing death from an early-morning April 28, 2010 incident that led to the death of Samuel Charles Auger, 29, nine days later from a massive head injury.
The first witness called, Judith Vanleeuwen, a clerk at the Mohawk convenience store at the corner of West Central and Eighth Avenue, said Auger and the woman had caught her attention that morning because they had been loitering at a bus stop bench on the other side of Eighth.
Kerr was a regular at the store, Vanleeuwen said, and was in purchasing a coffee before going to work at about the same time Auger and the woman walked in.
While the woman went into the bathroom, Auger waited by the magazine rack and there was no interaction with Kerr, Vanleuewen said. The woman remained in the bathroom for at least 10 minutes which prompted Vanleeuwen to knock on the door to ask if she was OK.
"We normally go and check when people are in there that long," Vanleeuwen said.
The woman replied that she was OK and eventually left the store while Auger remained in the building when Kerr left the store.
"The girl approached Gord and I assume she asked him for a ride because she got in the truck," Vanleeuwen said when asked what she saw next. Auger, in response, went outside, chased the truck and then threw something at it, Vanleeuwen testified.
With the truck gone, Auger started running around the building but did not leave the area, Vanleeuwen said, until Kerr came back, parked his truck, got out and approached Auger. When Auger ran away, Kerr got back into his truck and drove away, Vanleeuwen said.
The 10-man, two-woman jury is scheduled to hear from four more civilian witnesses and two expert witnesses over the course of two weeks.
In an opening statement, Crown counsel Marie Louise Ahrens told jury members it's expected they will hear that Kerr drove his large white pickup truck away from the store and through a stop sign at high speed and pursued Auger down West Central before hitting him.
According to an agreed statement of fact, Auger was struck at 6:10 a.m. and Kerr left the scene but turned himself into police a short time later and gave statements within the hour.
About 20 people, including friends and family of both Auger and Kerr, were in the gallery Monday.
