Yawning while driving into a bend in the road is one of the last things a Windsor man remembers before a fatal multi-vehicle crash in late May 2022.
CHATHAM — Yawning while driving into a bend in the road is one of the last things a Windsor man remembers before a multi-vehicle crash in late May 2022 that killed two.
Brett Iler, 30, took the stand in his own defence Friday as testimony wrapped up and both sides rested on the third day of his trial in provincial offences court near Blenheim.
Iler has pleaded not guilty to two counts of careless driving causing death and three counts of careless driving causing injury in the May 27, 2022 crash that killed Jamiee Doyle, 28, and Nigel Sedge, 29.
The crash came during a Retrofest cruise in which hundreds of classic cars were travelling west on Queen’s Line (formerly Highway 2). Four vehicles collided on an ‘S’ bend near Dillon Road.
Iler, who was eastbound on Queen’s Line, testified he recalls coming up to the first curve in the ‘S’ bend, veering left and straightening his vehicle.
“I remember starting to turn my vehicle to the right (heading into the second part of the S bend) and at that same basic time, I remembered yawning,” he testified.
Iler added he doesn’t remember details immediately after that.
Chatham-Kent police Sgt. Jason Herder, an expert accident reconstructionist who testified Thursday, determined Iler’s eastbound 2013 Ford Escape veered 1.2 metres into the westbound lane on the bend near Dillon Road, striking a 1987 Chevy pickup.
The impact “instantly” flattened the SUV’s front driver’s side tire. This resulted in the Ford Escape rotating counter-clockwise and moving further into the westbound lane, where it struck a 1950 Buick sedan, occupied by Sedge and Doyle, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
The other three passengers in the Buick sedan were hurt and had to be extricated from the vehicle.
Herder said Sedge, who was driving the Buick, tried to make an evasive maneuver by turning right just before the vehicle was struck by Iler’s SUV.
But the Buick was “past the point of no escape,” the officer added. “There’s nothing you can do to prevent the collision from occurring.”
Iler’s testimony revealed he was heading to work a 7 p.m. night shift as a nurse at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. The crash occurred at 6:55 p.m.
It was to have been his first night shift after coming off a day shift two days earlier, court heard.
Iler’s lawyer, Alexandra Cardella, asked if he was “overly tired” that day.
“Not overly tired,” Iler said, adding he didn’t have his full energy level heading into work.
Cardella asked if he lost consciousness.
“I would say I don’t have full recollection,” said Iler, who described having half-second flashes of the collision.
“How does a yawn actually cause this?” Crown lawyer Ryan Iaquinta asked under cross-examination.
Iler said while “veering to the right as my eyes were closed, I’m estimating how much I have to turn.”
He added as his eyes opened after yawning, “I just remember a collision.”
Iaquinta cited the evidence of Mark Lauzon, who testified Wednesday about someone in an SUV driving aggressively behind him as he headed east on Queen’s Line minutes before the crash.
The SUV sped up and closed on him a number of times, then backed off, court heard. The vehicle then went into the westbound land a few times, but didn’t pass when it could have. The SUV backed off when a long line of classic vehicles were seen in the westbound lane.
Iaquinta suggested Iler was frustrated at not being able to pass Lauzon’s vehicle, due to possibly running late for work, and it carried through to his attempt to pass the classic cars when he saw a gap in the line of vehicles.
Iler was just saying he was yawning “because you know that looks better than you attempting to pass,” the Crown lawyer added.
“No,” Iler replied.
It was revealed during Herder’s testimony Thursday that Iler was neither impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, nor distracted by using his cellphone.
The trial resumes Oct. 17, when the defence and Crown are anticipated to make closing submissions.