Fatality investigation 'sloppy' - lawyer

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An Edmonton lawyer says he is extremely disturbed with the way officials handled an investigation into a head-on car accident north of High Prairie which killed five Natives.

"You can be sure if it had been a Native who killed five white people, the charges would have been more severe and the investigation would have been thorough," says Murray Marshall.

Alan Cox of High Prairie was charged with passing when unsafe to do so. While driving a half-ton pickup truck on an undivided highway in heavy fog Oct. 24, 1989, Cox attempted to pass and collided head-on with a vehicle driven by Paul Henry Giroux. Giroux, three other adults and a one-year-old child, all from the High Prairie area, were killed.

Cox was acquitted at a trial in Peace River Oct. 28, 1990.

"It really disturbs me to think there may be some prejudice surrounding how this case was handled. The conduct of the investigation would not have been sloppy if white men were killed. Justice has not been served," says Marshall, who represents Giroux's common-law wife in her claim for damages.

Marshall says there are three serious irregularities in the handling of the investigation. The High Prairie RCMP "did not lay charges consistent with the gravity of the accident caused by Cox."

He says the RCMP "waited nine days before first interviewing Cox and when they did interview him it was by telephone with Cox's lawyer present."

Although toxicology reports were prepared for Giroux, the RCMP did not "attempt to get a blood or breath sample from Cox following the accident," says Marshall.

"I don't understand why the RCMP expended so much effort in investigating the victims and in the meantime they botched up their conduct in the most basic investigations of Cox," he charges.

Sgt. Thomas Beggs of the High Prairie RCMP detachment says normal procedure was followed at the time of the accident.

He says Cox was interviewed at the scene and no blood or breath sample was taken from Cox because there was no evidence to indicate he may have been driving while impaired. Investigating officer Dave Simpson refused comment. Marshall says chief Crown prosecutor Dave Beach has no intention of appealing the acquittal even though in a letter to Marshall he agreed "that on the face of the circumstances, the charge appears inadequate."

In the letter Beach continues by saying the police investigation "shows no pattern or conduct upon which dangerous operation or criminal negligence could be based."

Beach said the "best we can attempt to prove at trial, according to the police, is a momentary lapse in judgment or attention. In any event, we do not direct the police in this province and only provide advice when requested."

each refused comment. Attorney General Ken Rostad was also unavailable for comment.

Marshall says it is curious that Beach told a task force on Native justice and policing in June that "few Natives are punished compared to the amount of crime committed by them."

Marshall is trying to get the Crown prosecutor's office to reexamine the case and have more serious charges laid against Cox.