WEDNESDAY November 27, 1996

FREE EMERGENCY TIRE SEALANT with any automatic transmission service

1790 Marine Dr. North Van 987-8006

ferries

By lan Noble News Reporter

LABOR strife is hit- ting the North Shore waterfront as work begins on a fast-ferry program the NDP government hopes

will rejuvenate ailing B.C. shipyards.

Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union Local 1 President George MacPherson said his union members have effectively been shut out of work on B.C. Ferries’ fast-ferry project — an ambitious $210-million program that the Crown corpo- ration says will create up to 350 jobs.

In order for Local | members to work on the project, they must

¢ Dispure page 3

Veteran bus driver found guilty of MVA infraction in death of N. Vancouver senior

By Anna Marie D'Angelo - News Reporter

THE bus driver who ran over and killed a passenger in Lower Lonsdale on June 1. 1995, has been found guilty of driving

without due care and attentio

Ronald Wayne Turner, $9, looked sad and was slouched throughout most of the court proceedings on Monday in North Vancouver provincial court,

His demeanor id not change much when Judge Ellen Burdett read out the guilty verdic

Turner was charged under the Motor Vebicle Act in con: nection with the death of Kath Erickson.

‘ an, 68, of North getting off a BOC. Transit bus at Bast: 3rd Street near St. Georges Avenue.

The senior was crushed to death under one of the rear dial

on Sunday in North Vancouver. Two men in the car were arrested after one was injured in the chase. Police continue to investigate.

ncouver, died within seconds of

Hot car

NORTH Van RCMP Const. D.S. Urquhart checks out the licence plate on this stolen car, which was involved ina high-speed chase

of the bus.

Said Judge Burdett, “Mr. Turner did not check the right outside mirror before moving the bus.”

Had he done so, the bus driver would have seen who had apparently fallen on her back on the road s getting off the bus.

The judge concluded Turner had an “absence of though” when he didi’t check the mirror. That failure to think to cheek the mirror was negligent, the judge ruled.

A conviction for driving without due care and atrention car: rics an automatic six penalty deriving points, a possible fine and av possible driver's licence suspension

ntencing was adjourned to December.

Yorner did nor testify ar the trial, His iawver, Gina Fiorillo, did not call any de witnesses. Fiorillo argtied that there was no evidence to show where Erickson was before she was crushed so that it was net known if the bus driver could see her or not. The detence lawyer said her client's liability ended short ofa standard of driving perfection,

Crown lawyer Mark Levitz rebutted by pointing out that Turner was a professional bus driver of £9 years and that he bad departed from che reasonable standard of care of a professional bus driver “by running down a passenger who just got off the bus.”

As far as where Brickson was before she died Levitz, said,

here can be no doubt that Mfrs. Krickson was near the bus

rickson, ands after

‘Fe

Ly concerts 014.

ifursday. Showers, windy High 9C, dow 23°C.

the pursuit ended near 15th Street and Forbes Avenue. No

(back) door. She didn’t have wings.”

Monday's court proceediigs opened with testimony front a man who witmessed Erickson’s last seconds outside the bus,

“Phe lady just fell out of the back of the bus,” said Gerald Murphy.

He said the senior “touched” the edge of the curb and then fell on her back on the road. A couple of seconds later the bus moved, crushing Erickson to death,

Murphy said he was standing ata corner of St. Georges and East 3rd Street on his way to the Subway sandwich shop on nearby Lonsdale Avenue when he witnessed the accident.

Court tesumony indicated that the bus driver was talking to a woman who had just boarded the bus when kson was run over.

Rene Cow testified that Turner was ooking ather face when the bus moved away from the bus stop. Cex said the bus driver did not geta chanee to tell her how much the fare was to Vancouver betore Erickson was rus over, Cox's testimony con- tradicted a statement: Turner gave to a North Vancouver Mountic less than 30 minutes after Erickson's death. Turner said he told Cox how much the fare was to Vancouver and she had dropped the amount inte the coin box, He also said he took a quick look in his mirrors betore starting ap the bus,

B.C. “Pransit’s Trace Ac id Turner returned to work after the incident. Turn 1 Turner gets a