Mike on Crime by Mike McIntyre

Author:Mike McIntyre
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: True Crime;Canada;History;Criminals
Publisher: Great Plains Publications
Published: 2015-03-11T21:30:20+00:00

CHAPTER 9

JUSTICE WASN’T SERVED

It was an eight-year legal odyssey unlike few others in Manitoba history. A botched police investigation. A controversial plea bargain. A damning public inquiry. An explosive criminal trial. And so much more. But it all began with a situation that is all-too-familiar— a senseless, completely preventable tragedy where alcohol is involved.

I’ve lost track of how many of these cases I’ve covered over the years, of how many tears I’ve watched be shed in courtrooms from grieving family members, of how many sputtering apologies I’ve heard from the guilty party that was behind the wheel. And yet drinking-and-driving remains an epidemic. In many ways, this case represents a perfect storm of everything that could possibly go wrong, on so many levels.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2005

The cross of yellow and purple flowers was laid gently on the median. A small group of people huddled at the intersection while police blocked off traffic. Someone began reciting the Lord’s Prayer. A Winnipeg Free Press reporter stood to the side, observing the solemn ceremony.

Robert Taman stood stone-faced, his three adult children by his side. Several other family members and close friends were also present. Many were choking back tears. All of them wore the same pin on their coats, bearing the name of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Taman had just buried his wife, Crystal, at a service attended by more than 700 people. Crystal had been killed just a few days earlier at this very intersection, where Lagimodiere Boulevard meets the north Perimeter Highway.

“How do we go on living knowing that this could happen to any of us?” Rev. Don McIntyre had asked the congregation. “Life is not always fair.”

The pain was still raw. There were so many unanswered questions about what had occurred. Crystal had been on her way into work as a dental assistant, taking the same route she travelled all of the time. She had done nothing wrong. She was stopped at a red light in her convertible. Then along came another vehicle—a Dodge Dakota pick-up truck—with catastrophic results. It slammed into her from behind, crushing her vehicle and killing her. Crystal’s two daughters drove by the scene moments later and witnessed the horrific aftermath.

Police had made an arrest. And the Taman family was stunned to learn who was behind the wheel of the vehicle which had killed Crystal. Derek Harvey-Zenk, 31, was a constable with the Winnipeg Police Service. He was off-duty at the time of the tragedy. And he was now facing several criminal charges: refusing a breathalyzer test, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and criminal negligence causing death.

“Sometimes a person is forced to step up,” Robert Taman said at the roadside service. “We want to get through this day. We will have more to say.”

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22, 2007

The wheels of justice had been moving very slowly. And now, two-and-a-half years after a high-profile deadly crash, Manitoba justice officials had struck a plea bargain with the killer driver. It was only serving to inflame an already irate public.

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