NAKED GUY NEVER KNEW HE WAS ON ECSTASY - JUDGE

WATERLOO, Ont. (CP) -- A man who drove while naked and high on drugs,
slamming into several cars and seriously injuring two people, did not
knowingly take ecstasy, a judge ruled yesterday.

In acquitting Clifford Harvey of dangerous driving causing bodily harm,
Justice Donald Gordon pointed the finger at the man's two friends who may
have slipped him the drug, or know who did.

He suggested they know why Harvey ended up so intoxicated on Feb. 28, 2001,
that he removed his clothes and tried to have sex with the road and a car
before causing the horrific accident.

"Some person or persons have caused a serious criminal act," the Superior
Court judge said. "Mr. Elliott (an accident victim) and Mr. Harvey could
have died."

"We may never know who slipped ecstasy (to Mr. Harvey). It is clear to me
that Mr. Bakker and Mr. Sheppard do know."

He was referring to Luke Bakker and Jamie Sheppard, two witnesses who
admitted lying to police.

Gordon called Bakker's evidence "neither complete nor truthful." He said
Bakker was familiar with ecstasy, having taken it some 60 times, and had
given crystal methamphetamine to friends.

The judge wondered why Sheppard told someone several days after the crash
that Harvey had been slipped ecstasy.

Harvey came to Kitchener from Newfoundland looking for work two weeks
before the crash, court heard. He used ecstasy for the first time four days
before the crash, when he and Sheppard went to a rave.

Harvey testified he recalled nothing about his bizarre behaviour. Court
heard that on the afternoon of the accidents, Harvey drove Sheppard to work
and gave Bakker, who worked at the same place, a ride home.

He and Bakker stopped at a hair salon and a shopping mall, where Harvey
acted restless and was dancing and singing, court heard. He dropped off
Bakker at home and was later seen dancing naked in the street, fondling his
genitals and screaming.

He sped through a red light and slammed head-on into a car, seriously
injuring a father and son and causing a chain reaction involving other
cars. Harvey suffered broken eye sockets and a broken nose and jaw.