Tension ran high in a Vancouver courtroom this week as lawyers challenged the testimony of a pipe layer who survived a fatal workplace accident in Burnaby on Oct. 11, 2012.
During his testimony at the trial of J. Cote and Son Excavating Ltd. and foreman David Green, Thomas Richer had said repeatedly that Green had run away and offered no help after a retaining wall collapsed into a trench at a North Burnaby worksite, killing 28-year-old pipe layer Jeff Caron and injuring Richer.
"Mr. Green was running down the laneway, and I asked him, 'Where the f*** are you going, Dave?' Mr. Green said he didn't know," Richer had told the court.
He said Green was scared because he thought Caron and Richer were both dead.
Richer said he had to tell Green to call 911.
Richer also said Green had told him not to go into the trench to check on Caron.
'I am'
During cross-examination, however, J. Cote's lawyer William Smart showed Richer a transcript of Richer's interview with WorkSafeBC on Oct. 15, 2012.
In it, Richer gives a different version of the story.
"Dave was running up the road. I yell at him, 'Dave, call 911,' and he goes, 'I am,'" the transcript stated.
In the transcript, Richer also said Green had said "OK, go in there" after an excavator had been used to lift the wall off Caron.
But Richer told the court the transcript wasn't accurate and that it had been "doctored."
He said one of the WorkSafeBC investigators that interviewed him was in a motorcycle club, a "puppet club" and he didn't trust him.
(The term "puppet club" is often used to describe a motorcycle club linked to the Hells Angels.)
Raising his voice, Richer repeated that Green had been scared and run away, and that Richer had had to tell him to call 911.
"How do you know?" Smart asked.
"I could tell. Why was he running away? Why is he sitting there smiling at me right now? He was scared shitless," Richer said loudly. "I was there. I seen what he did, ran scared."
'Reckless allegations'
Richer was equally emphatic answering questions from Green's lawyer, Brock Martland.
"He never said that he was going to call 911. I told him to call 911," Richer said.
On the second day of his cross-examination Thursday, however, Martland played an audio recording of Richer's WorkSafeBC interview in court, and Richer agreed the transcript was accurate.
Then he said he was still "under duress" during the WorkSafeBC interview because it was only days after the traumatic accident.
But Martland suggested Richer's allegations that the transcript had been doctored by a corrupt WorkSafeBC investigator had been "reckless."
"You realize now that that was totally unfounded," Martland said.
"Correct, because I heard it on audio now," Richer said.
"The fact of it is, you have no hesitation to throw around reckless allegations against other people," Martland said.
"No," Richer said.
Earlier in the trial, Richer had told the court he had raised safety concerns with Green, J. Cote owner Jamie Cote, and others before the wall collapsed into the storm- and sewer-line trench in a laneway behind Edinburgh Street in North Burnaby.
Trial continues
J. Cote is on trial for criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing injury.
Green faces the additional charge of manslaughter.
Both pleaded not guilty at the beginning of their trial in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.
Richer’s cross-examination wrapped up Thursday afternoon.
The trial is expected to continue Friday with testimony from an Edinburgh Street resident who took photos of the storm- and sewer-line project before the fatal accident.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
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