TRUCK DRIVER SAYS HE CAN'T EXPLAIN HOW HIS RIG CRASHED INTO VAN

A Montreal man accused of being high on marijuana when he killed one
person and seriously injured another has no idea how his
tractor-trailer plowed into the back of the passenger van.

"I can't explain it in my own mind," Sean Du Jardin told police a
month after the fatal accident on Highway 401, west of Mallorytown.
"I still can't figure out what happened."

Du Jardin said he picked up tea and a muffin at Tim Hortons and was
heading west on his usual run from Montreal to Toronto when he came
upon the van.

He said he changed the dial on the radio and was looking out the
window when suddenly the van was "right in front of me."

"I don't know if he hit the brakes or took his foot off the gas," Du
Jardin told officers in a videotaped interview after the July 19,
2004 accident.

He said he braked and tried to swerve left, but hit the van, sending
it onto the shoulder and then into a swampy area.

Du Jardin, 41, has pleaded not guilty to charges of impaired driving
causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous
driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and
possession of marijuana.

Feridun Ozdingis, a doctor from Turkey, died of a heart attack
moments after the crash while his wife, Feryal Ozdingis, suffered
severe head and internal injuries.

Both were passengers in the van returning to Toronto from the east
coast when they were rear-ended at 12:40 a.m.

The trial has heard evidence the tractor-trailer didn't brake until
after the point of impact. The accused also made a statement at the
scene that he may have fallen asleep.

While Du Jardin showed no visual signs of impairment, an officer
detected an odour of marijuana in the cab. A subsequent search turned
up 14.5 grams of marijuana in a black bag located in the sleeper compartment.

In his videotaped interview, Du Jardin admitted he was a pot smoker
but that he had not toked-up the night of the accident.

Any traces of the drug that might be found in his system were the
result of smoking a joint the day before, he said.

He also told police he didn't know why the 14.5 grams of grass were
in his truck.

Oliver Abergel, Du Jardin's lawyer, tried unsuccessfully to have
evidence of his client's drug use ruled inadmissible.

Claiming a violation of Du Jardin's constitutional right to be free
of unreasonable search and seizure, Abergel argued police were on a
"fishing expedition" when they provided information to a justice of
the peace to obtain the search warrants.

The warrants allowed police to search the truck, gain access to his
medical records and obtain a blood sample taken when he was admitted
to hospital.

However, Superior Court Justice Tim Ray ruled Wednesday the search
warrants were properly issued and that there was no misleading
information provided by police to obtain the them.

To throw out evidence based on this type of charter violation would
only bring the administration of justice into disrepute, he said.

The trial continues.