A wild ride along Ospika Boulevard that resulted in the death of a Prince George man nearly one-and-a-half years ago began when the driver of the SUV that hit him thought she was being pursued by drug-dealing gangsters.
Stanley Heavysides, 48, was pronounced dead Jan. 30, 2011 at University Hospital of Northern British Columbia roughly two hours after he was struck by the vehicle Sandra Cassidy, 70, was driving.
Cassidy had been driving home from a bonspiel at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club when she was heading west on Ferry Avenue and, according to witnesses, failed to stop at the corner of Ferry and Ospika.
She slid out into a northbound lane on Ospika where an oncoming vehicle was forced to go around her. Cassidy then appeared to punch the gas and went into a series of twists and turns that saw her vehicle cross over the median twice, going airborne on each occasion, and then strike Heavysides, who was walking along Ospika near Melody Crescent.
There was a chance Cassidy would have run over Heavysides a second time had nearby motorist Robbin Shingler not driven his Pontiac Sunfire between the SUV and the victim when she reversed her vehicle.
Cassidy struck Shingler's car instead and then drove away but police found her vehicle's license plate at the scene and then found her at her home later the same evening.
In December, Cassidy pleaded dangerous driving causing death. During a sentencing hearing Monday, the state of Cassidy's mind at the time became a central issue.
While one forensic psychiatrist was unable to conclude she was not criminally responsible for her actions due to mental illness, another, testifying on behalf of the defence, said Cassidy was suffering from intense fear prompted by her son's cocaine addiction and his subsequent dealings with local drug dealers.
Though she did not show any history of a formal anxiety disorder, Cassidy has always been a worrier, the psychiatrist said, and has lived alone since 2006 when her husband died. When her son became addicted to cocaine and appeared to run afoul of local drug dealers, Cassidy became concerned particularly when his behaviour became more erratic and paranoid.
At one point, her son borrowed her vehicle to drive to Vancouver and when he returned, told Cassidy he and two drug-involved people were arrested while in her SUV and told her not to drive it around because dealers now knew about her vehicle.
She began to share her son's fears, the psychiatrist said, and focussed on media reports about gangs and drug dealers, took down the licence plates of suspicious vehicles that passed by her home, screened all her calls and when visiting her son's home, would circle the block first to make sure it was safe.
"She has developed this notion that she had to be extremely cautious to watch out for people who might harm her son or her," said the psychiatrist, Dr. Elisabeth Zoffmann.
On the evening she was arrested, witnesses from the curling club said Cassidy drank at most two glasses of wine while playing at the bonspiel but Cassidy told the psychiatrist she may have had as many as four over the course of the day.
In recounting the events to Zoffmann, Cassidy said she was driving along Ferry when she saw a cyclist and changed lanes. When she reached Ospika, Cassidy said a large dark truck playing loud, heavy-base music pulled up behind her and then struck the rear end of her vehicle while its engine was being revved. Cassidy said that caused her to panic and try to get away. She did not remember hitting Heavysides.
In closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Lara Vizsolyi dismissed Cassidy's version of events as a story she perfected between the time she was arrested and gave interviews to Zoffmann.
She made no mention of the truck to police when she was arrested, only that she was afraid and it was slippery when asked why she drove away, Vizsolyi said.
Witnesses testified Cassidy's SUV was perpendicular to Ospika when it blocked the northbound lane so that the oncoming vehicle approached her from the side not the rear, Vizsolyi noted. There was no evidence on her vehicle of a rear-end collision, Vizsolyi said, and added no other witnesses spoke of a large truck revving its engine and playing loud music.
When police arrived at her door they noticed a smell of alcohol on her breath and when she bent down to put on her shoes she fell over and hit her head, the court was told, and she later blew .120 and .130 on the breathalyzer.
While it's expected a a charge of impaired driving causing death will be stayed because Cassidy said she drank as much as a glass-and-a-half of wine when she got home, Vizsolyi said alcohol had to be a contributing factor.
Either way, Vizsolyi said Cassidy's circumstances were not enough to overcome her "horrific, appalling, terrible driving" and recommended a term of two years less a day in jail and a five-year driving prohibition.
Defence lawyer David Jenkins read out several letters of support from friends and acquaintances who said Cassidy never had anymore than two glasses of wine when at the curling club.
Her actions were completely out of character and can only be explained by "something else going on," Jenkins said.
Closing arguments are to continue at a later date, but Jenkins said he will be asking for less time than Crown is suggesting due to the extreme mitigating circumstances.
Provincial Court Judge Michael Gray said he intends to reserve his decision to a later date once closing arguments have been completed.
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