Guilty plea in death of Edmonton landscaper
Driver seen texting after crash that killed worker
EDMONTON — A 25-year-old woman who slammed her car into the back of a work truck, pinning a teenage landscaper and killing him, pleaded guilty Thursday to careless driving.
Taryn Crawford entered the plea in provincial court in connection with the death of 19-year-old Sefatullah Khanzadeh.
Khanzadeh was working as a seasonal landscaper for LandTec Landscape Contractors on July 24, 2009. The teenager and two other employees were doing weeding work on the meridian of 97th Street near 144th Avenue around 10:30 a.m.
A work truck had been parked in the northbound inside lane of 97th Street.
Traffic cones had been placed around the site to direct vehicles away from the inside lane. When the work was completed, Khanzadeh started picking up the cones and throwing them into the back of the truck while a colleague slowly reversed the truck.
That's when Crawford's Honda Civic slammed into the back of the truck, pinning Khanzadeh between the two vehicles. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"For some reason, (Crawford) ran into the back of the truck," Crown prosecutor Brendan Gaunt told court. Several cars driving ahead of Crawford saw the truck and pulled into the other lanes.
A Workplace Health and Safety fatality report released in February, which was not presented in court, stated the driver of the Civic was "distracted from driving responsibilities" and was seen texting on her cellphone as she exited her car after the crash.
"The driver o the (Civic) did not even know that she had crushed a landscape worker. There were no visible skid marks from the passenger vehicle," indicating the driver had not tried to stop before the crash, the report said.
The report also noted the amber light on the roof of the work truck was not functioning at the time of the crash.
The careless driving charge falls under the Traffic Safety Act. The maximum penalty for the charge is a $2,000 fine and six months in jail.
The case is scheduled to be back in court June 29, when a more complete set of facts about the incident will be discussed.
Khanzadeh's family was not in court Thursday and lawyers wanted to give them the opportunity to attend the full court proceeding.
Khanzadeh came to Canada from Afghanistan in 2006 with his family.
