Driver pleads guilty in horrific Boxing Day crash that killed nine-year-old girl
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Members of Victoria Desjardins' family cried and moaned in pain as video showing the lifeless girl being removed from her mother's car, where police and fire officials attempted to get a pulse while performing CPR.
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Nepoose also admitted causing bodily harm to the girl's mother and older sister, as well as another motorist while speeding through a red light on Macleod Trail.
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According to the statement of agreed facts read in by Buziak and signed by defence lawyers Sam Taylor and Rebecca Snukal, as well as their client, Nepoose was fleeing from police after robbing a Millrise pharmacy and stealing the owner's Dodge Caravan.
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Buziak said officers initially tried to make a traffic stop of the stolen vehicle around 9:41 a.m., but Nepoose sped off.
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The HAWCS police helicopter then tracked the vehicle as it drove on several major roadways in southwest Calgary, at one time accelerating to approximately 170 km/h, the prosecutor said.
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It eventually ended up on eastbound Stoney Trail before heading northbound on Macleod.
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'The vehicle continued traveling northbound on Macleod Trail travelling through the red lights at the intersections of 109th Avenue and also 99th Avenue before entering the intersection of Southland Drive against the red light,' Buziak said.
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Nepoose struck two vehicles travelling westbound on Southland Drive, including a silver Pontiac Vibe being driven by Victoria's mother, Amanda Reitmeier.
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'A video recording of the collision was recorded by a dash camera of a vehicle situated in the eastbound lane of Southland Driver,' Buziak said.
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Reitmeier and her two daughters, Madison Desjardins, 12, and Victoria, were seriously injured, the prosecutor told court.
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Article content One can't help but wonder what in the world could have been going through Calgarian Duane Nepoose's mind as he raced through the southern portion of the city six months ago in a stolen van. Article content With not a police cruiser in sight, Nepoose could have at any time pulled over and fled the stolen vehicle on foot. Article content Article content He also could have slowed down to at or near the speed limit and obeyed traffic signals as there were no flashing lights behind him in hot pursuit. Article content Article content The only police present anywhere nearby was the HAWCS helicopter hovering above him high in the sky and if that was what Nepoose was fleeing he was doomed to get caught. Article content Article content Even the officer providing the narration lost his composure slightly as Nepoose rammed into Amanda Reitmeier's compact hatchback, causing a chain reaction involving five vehicles in total. Article content 'Oh, zero-one, zeros-one. We're gonna need EMS at Southland and Macleod. Massive zero-one,' the officer said, his voice wavering somewhat as he referred to the police code of 10-01 for an injury accident. Article content Article content The impact left Reitmeier and her 12-year-old daughter, Madison Desjardins, seriously injured. More tragic though, it also took the life of her nine-year-old daughter, Victoria Desjardins. Article content Article content Article content The video was played in a Calgary courtroom earlier this month after Nepoose pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including dangerous driving causing the young girl's death. Article content His sentencing hearing is set for September. Article content The facts placed on the record before Justice Indra Maharaj and read in by Crown prosecutor Todd Buziak and agreed to by the offender and his lawyers, Rebecca Snukal and Sam Taylor, did not do justice to the horrific conduct of Nepoose on that day. Article content But the HAWCS video, as well as body-worn camera footage from one of the first officers on the scene, which not only captured Nepoose's arrest but also the frantic but ultimately futile attempts to save the little girl's life, certainly did.
