The taxi driver accused of running over and killing a First Nations teen in northeast Calgary last year appeared in court on Wednesday.
Stanislaw Maguder, 70, was charged with the hit and run death of 16-year-old Tyla Rain Rose Chipaway in March 2015.
Police say that in the early morning hours of March 18, a body was found in the middle of the road by area residents.
EMS attended and declared the victim dead at the scene. The investigation showed that the injuries inflicted were consistent with being struck by a car.
CCTV footage recorded before the incident showed the victim walking back and forth, in and out of traffic on 16 Avenue.
A toxicology report showed that Chipaway’s blood alcohol reading was 0.21, more than double the legal driving limit.
Maguder was arrested a few hours later and charged with the hit and run.
He told police that he didn’t stop and went to a car wash afterwards. He told the co-owner of his taxi that he thought he ran over some luggage lying in the road.
During his court appearance on Wednesday, he said that he’s been a taxi driver for the past 25 years and he’d been at the end of a long shift when he hit something in the middle of the road.
He told the court that he spotted a black object in the street just before he hit it. He said that he didn’t know what it was.
When asked about why he didn’t stop, Maguder admitted that his mind was ‘all over the place’ and made the choice to just keep going.
Police at the time of the incident said that if Maguder had stopped after he’d struck Chipaway, he would not have faced any charges.
If convicted, he now faces a possible life sentence.
