Scripted To Perfection

Too inebriated to drive in control of her vehicle.  Too irrational to listen to someone trying to convince her not to get behind the wheel of her vehicle.  Too incapable of controlling the vehicle evidenced by her striking a parked car as she was pulling away from the restaurant parking lot where two people witnessed her condition, hoping she would succumb to persuasion by a companion who later drove off on his own, having failed in his attempts to persuade her not to drive off on her own.

Not too smashed, though, to realize once she had caused an accident by meeting someone else's vehicle head-on in a crash that took the life of another human being, that she would do well to cover by any means possible, the giveaway odour of alcohol on her breath.  Yet another witness testified in court that Dr. Christy Natsis turned to him as someone she knew who just happened to turn up at the accident scene, to ask if he could supply her with some chewing gum.

And now, the first police officer who turned up at the scene, responding to his radio call of a head-on collision with injuries on Highway 17 at eight in the evening on March 31, 2011 has testified that in his expert and experienced opinion he was in the company of a woman whose speech was slurred as a result of the alcohol he too detected on her breath.  And that he watched as she strove to balance herself once she exited from her smashed vehicle, necessitating assistance to keep herself upright.

Dr. Natsis has pleaded not guilty to charges of dangerous and impaired driving causing death, and driving with a blood-alcohol level exceeding the legal limit.  Constable David Dunfield of the Ontario Provincial Police, Arnprior detachment, noted as he looked in at the driver with alcohol on her breath that she appeared to have a slight injury on her leg.  She stumbled away from him twice, unable to balance herself normally.

When he approached the edge of the eastbound lane to determine the condition of the victim in this unfortunate accident, Bryan Casey appeared to be "at an awkward angle", one leg pinned behind the dashboard, steering wheel bent deep in his abdomen.  "I knew that the man was in a bad way".  Constable Dunfield, in his initial survey of the scene noted that most of the debris from the accident appeared in the eastbound lane.

Dr. Natsis was heading for home, driving in the westbound lane.  The unfortunate victim, Mr. Bryan Casey was driving in the east lane.  "She's out of the vehicle on the pavement and she stumbles", said Constable Dunfield.  And she was wearing shoes - previously brought into question - stumbling and leaning heavily on a man at the scene for support, said Constable Dunfield. 

He testified also that Dr. Natsis' eyes were red and glossy-appearing; another symptom of intoxication.  Dr. Natsis' defence lawyer, Michael Edelson, challenged Constable Dunfield's assessment; he erred in interpreting the symptoms of a woman injured in an accident for impairment.  "You never ruled it out", charged lawyer Edelson.  "No", replied Constable Dunfield. 

A "snowstorm of powder" resulting when the airbags deployed in Dr. Natsis' SUV might explain how her eyes appeared, suggested her lawyer.

And lawyer Edelson took exception at the condition of the notes that Constable Dunfield had taken after arrival at the crash scene.  Evidently lawyer Edelson feels Constable Dunfield should have been taking careful notes of everything he observed then and there, rather than surveying the scene, interacting with the principals, doing what police officers are charged to do in the discharge of their professional duties.

OPP regulations, pointed out lawyer Edelson, require that officers' notes not only be accurate, but complete.  And now Constable Dunfield is apprised of that fact, he will proceed to discharge his professional duties henceforth with that admonition in mind, ensuring his entries be perfectly scripted to reflect time, sequence of events and observations.