Witness who struck falling police officer breaks down in court

A driver who accidentally ran over a Calgary police officer broke down in tears at a first-degree murder trial Tuesday.

Sgt. Andrew Harnett had pulled over an SUV on Dec. 31, 2020. Court has heard the officer was first dragged by the fleeing vehicle then fell into the path of an oncoming car. He later died in hospital.

The suspect, who was 17 at the time, cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The now 19-year-old offered to plead guilty to manslaughter Monday but the trial proceeded on the murder charge.

Mackson Ogunsanya testified he was driving that night when he saw a speeding SUV and something else coming toward him.

“I saw a black object. At first, I thought they threw something toward me. Then I thought I hit the object,” he told the court.

Ogunsanya said he immediately stopped his car.

“That’s when I realized I had hit a cop. I was shaking. How could this happen? I have no idea,” he said.

Ogunsanya broke down during his testimony.

He said he managed to dial 911 but two police officers showed up. One was on a phone calling an ambulance and the other was attending to Harnett.

“He’s not moving. He’s not speaking,” said Ogunsanya.

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“I told the cops, ‘I’m the one that hit the cop.’ The cops told me to sit inside my car. I started crying because I believed I killed someone.”

A collision reconstructionist testified Monday that there was nothing Ogunsanya could have done to avoid striking Harnett, as the SUV was going 97 km/h before the officer fell onto the road.

“My analysis of all the evidence is the driver of the Toyota was in a situation where he could not have avoided striking Sgt. Harnett when he came towards him,” Const. Dennis Vink testified.

A struggle between Harnett and the driver of the SUV was witnessed by bus driver Hardeep Dhaliwal.

“I started seeing one of the vehicles moving that the police had stopped, and a police officer was kind of struggling on the driver’s side. And then as soon as I saw that, I just stopped on the side, thinking it might hit me,” said Dhaliwal.

“The officer was still struggling on the side of the driver’s side and trying to hold on. Then I saw in my rear-view, one of the doors opened on the driver’s side and I couldn’t see the officer anymore.”

A passenger in the SUV, 20-year-old Amir Abdulrahmen, earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.