Family speaks of ongoing pains during trial for man accused in head-on collision

By Peggy Revell on December 1, 2017.

How a joyful day that included a photoshoot with five generations of family ended in a life-changing collision was heard Thursday, as the trial of a Cypress County man accused of impaired driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm continued at the Medicine Hat Courthouse.

“I saw headlights and there was nothing I could do,” said Donelda Sadler, who was driving the vehicle struck by the accused on the evening of Dec. 17, 2015, when he was allegedly travelling eastbound in the westbound lane on the Trans-Canada Highway near Dunmore. The woman’s daughter was in the passenger seat, another daughter was in the middle of the backseat, and seven-day-old grandchild in a carseat behind her.

The family was heading into Medicine Hat after spending the day together, including a family photoshoot with five generations, and testified about how the vehicle they were in had just entered the left lane on the TCH, when they suddenly saw headlights and were hit.

“They were right in front of me. He hit us head on, it was straight on, smack on,” said Sadler.

“I’m pretty sure I blacked out. There was smoke, I couldn’t breathe,” she testified, recalling the struggle to get out of the vehicle, then pulling her grandchild out of the backseat and giving her to a woman at the scene to put into another vehicle to stay warm.

The infant had a broken femur, and was flown to Calgary for treatment.

“I remember waking up, hearing my daughter’s scream, my mom was freaking out, I started screaming,” testified Jaden Sadler, who was in the middle of the backseat. She said she didn’t remember how she got out of the car, but did remember laying on the ground, nearest to the accused’s vehicle.

Her injuries include scarring from the seatbelt, broken fingers and a bone on her wrist that required a full cast.

“I couldn’t really hold her,” she said about being with her newborn daughter. “It was really hard for me because she was in a cast.

“There were a lot of things I wanted to do with her but I couldn’t.”

The third woman, Jurnee Neufeld also described the collision, and how she was transported to the local hospital, then Calgary.

Her right ankle had snapped, she said, with the bone sticking out. This required surgery, plates and screws.

“I have arthritis in it and I’m 21, so it’s very hard on me.” she testified. “Some days I can’t walk on it because it hurts so much.”

Donelda testified how her face was “busted up,” how her pelvis bone had lodged into her hip, how she was black and blue from waist down for months, has PTSD now and walks with a limp.

The women also testified how they heard the accused swearing at them, saying they had caused the collision, with two of them testifying they could smell alcohol.

But defence counsel put forward that his client, Curtis Beisel, had never said these things, noting that only one of the original statements made to police by the women even mentioned being yelled at, and this statement didn’t include that it was foul language.

None of the women’s original statements mentioned smelling alcohol, it was noted, and even then they couldn’t pinpoint his client being the source of this smell. Defence also questioned why the original statement from Sadler included trying to avoid the vehicle by going left, while testimony spoke of being hit dead on and not swerving.

Today marks the final day of the trial.

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