Tim Hortons crash case update

Jake Krahn had been sitting in his pickup truck moments before it was struck from behind by a large oilfield truck, pushing the smaller vehicle into the side of a Taber business, the man’s brother testified Thursday.

Although Krahn is accused of driving the large truck into the back of his vehicle while it was parked outside a Tim Hortons restaurant just before midnight March 7, 2012, his brother, Heinrich Krahn, testified at Jake’s trial that the two brothers had driven to the restaurant in the pickup truck. Moments later it was hit by the oil truck, sending the pickup into the building.

Heinrich told court Jake had been drinking earlier in the night, so Heinrich drove them to the restaurant. He left Jake in the pickup while he went into the business and bought a coffee. After the two vehicles plowed through the side of the building, Heinrich said there was too much dust to see the vehicle clearly, and didn’t realize it was his brother’s truck until he went outside.

Heinrich said he thought Jake was still in the pickup, but then noticed him walk from around the back of the oil truck. He testified Jake was “freaking out,” yelling and waving his arms over his head.

“That effin truck almost hit me,” Heinrich said, quoting his brother.

However, video surveillance footage of the incident shows the pickup arriving at Tim Hortons and Heinrich emerging from the truck before entering the business. But it doesn’t show anyone else leaving the vehicle. After several moments the tanker rams into the pickup, and as an employee and Heinrich exit the store and approach the scene, the video shows Jake walking around the back of the oil truck.

Heinrich noted that he “thought” he heard someone say something about a person running away from the scene, and when questioned, suggested Jake may have made the comment.

Robert Ducharme of the Taber fire department responded to the alarm at the Tim Hortons and said the pickup had been pushed into the building and was sandwiched so tightly between bathroom walls and debris, no one could have gotten into or out of the vehicle.

The Crown contends that Jake may have been upset at his former employer, JaCar Energy Services of Taber, and drove the stolen oil truck into the back of his own truck. He is charged with possession of stolen property, impaired driving, dangerous driving, public mischief and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

On Wednesday, Jake’s friend Richard Millo testified that on the day of the incident they met after work and an upset Krahn talked about wrecking a truck. He didn’t, however, explain what he meant.

Taber police constable David Gyetesi who examined the scene for evidence later in the day, said he couldn’t find any “usable” fingerprints on the oil truck or the service bay from which it had been stolen the night before. He did, however, examine a couple of receipts a JaCar employee had found among some trash lying against a fence next to the service bay. Both receipts, from Soulsations Wellness Centre, belonged to Jake and were dated March 6, 2012, the day Jake allegedly drove his wife’s truck for acupuncture treatment.

Jakes wife, Jenna, told court that after she gave a statement to police following the incident at Tim Horton’s, she drove to the service bay looking for Millo to see if he could tell her what was going on. When she got out of her truck, her son opened one of the other doors and the wind blew a pile of papers off the dashboard.

Crown prosecutor Darwyn Ross asked Jenna why, when she knew the receipts incriminated her husband, she didn’t go to the police to tell them the receipts may have blown out of her truck when she drove to the service bay. She explained that when she and Jake first went to see a lawyer, she was told to “stay out of it.”

Ross concluded his case Thursday, and defence lawyer Greg White is expected to call Jake to the stand today.