WINNIPEG - Testimony is underway in the trial of a former Manitoba police chief accused of obstruction of justice.
Harry Bakema is also accused of perjury and breach of trust in a botched police investigation into a deadly car crash in his East St. Paul jurisdiction seven years ago.
Bakema is accused of deliberately torpedoing the investigation into the death of Crystal Taman, whose car was hit from behind by Derek Zenk, an off-duty Winnipeg police officer who had previously worked with Bakema.
A public inquiry was told Bakema did not give Zenk a sobriety test or question him at the scene, and told a fellow officer to change his notes about the crash.
Bakema denies those accusations and has pleaded not guilty.
The first witness was an RCMP collision expert, who told court he took one look at Taman's crushed vehicle and knew that whoever had been in that car would not have survived.
