A two day trial is underway for a Cardston man, who’s charged in connection to a fatal hit and run south of Lethbridge over a year ago.
Michael White Quills, 32, is facing a single charge of failing to remain at a collision causing death.
Just before the trial began Thursday morning (Jan. 9) in Lethbridge Provincial Court, Crown Prosecutor, Erin Olsen, told the court that she’ll be attempting to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that White Quills knew he hit someone and intended to avoid criminal liability.
One of the Crown’s witnesses, DJ Long Time Squirrel, testified that she and her boyfriend, Gage Good Rider, were intoxicated and unable to get a ride from Galt Gardens to her home near the Lethbridge Airport on the evening of Sep. 1, 2018, and instead chose to walk. As the two were walking southbound along the middle of Highway 5 early in the morning on Sep. 2, Long Time Squirrel says she heard what she believed to be a truck coming up fast behind them.
She testified that Good Rider told her to move quickly to the side of the road and she fell to her hands and knees as he pushed her toward the shoulder. That’s when she says she heard a loud thump. Long Time Squirrel says she didn’t see what happened, and it was a passerby in a vehicle who found Good Rider’s body a short distance down the road.
Good Rider was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Coaldale RCMP.
Long Time Squirrel says the truck never stopped and she saw it continue southbound on Highway 5 at a high speed. She described the road at the time of the collision as clear and well lit by street lights, with no animals or other obstacles nearby.
Upon cross examination, the defence suggested that Long Time Squirrel’s memory of the events may be affected by drug and alcohol use. She disagreed, stressing that she clearly remembers the crash.
White Quills was arrested about five months after the collision. He’s currently out on bail and is being represented by well-known Calgary lawyer, Balfour Der.
