A crash that "almost instantly" killed an 23-month-old baby girl and caused "significant harm" to her father in 2021 is being heard in a B.C. court.
Seyed Ramin Moshfeghi Zadeh is accused of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm after his vehicle allegedly blew through a red light on July 6, 2021 at Hornby and Smithe streets in Vancouver.
The case against Moshfeghi Zadeh is scheduled to be heard before Judge Katherine Denhoff starting April 2, with Crown prosecutor Brent Anderson outlining the details.
Anderson said the light had been red for more than 20 seconds before the collision.
Anderson said in joint Crown and defence admissions of fact that Moshfeghi Zadeh has admitted he was driving a black Ford Escape that entered the downtown Vancouver intersection.
It was further admitted that the Ford hit a McLaren sports car and rolled over while the man was on one corner holding his daughter.
“The Ford Escape struck the baby,” Anderson said in the admissions. “Her death was caused by the impact.”
The court heard Moshfeghi Zadeh was a novice driver.
Vancouver Police Department Const. Anthony Blackman was one of the first officers at the scene minutes after the crash. He said a woman flagged him down, saying, “there’s a dead baby over there.”
Blackman said he saw a man being attended to. He said the man was severely injured, describing multiple compound leg fractures.
The Ford, he said, was upright on the northwest sidewalk. A person pointed out the driver of the Ford.
Blackman told the court he recognized Moshfeghi Zadeh from two previous interactions.
The officer said Moshfeghi Zadeh told him he had been ejected from the Ford; however, Blackman said he looked at the Ford and couldn't see holes through which Moshfeghi Zadeh had come out of the vehicle.
Blackman told Moshfeghi Zadeh he could not leave the scene because there was a dead baby.
"'It was just an accident,'" he said Moshfeghi Zadeh told him.
In cross examination, defence lawyer Robert Dick suggested to Blackman that Moshfeghi Zadeh said he had been thrown around in the vehicle.
“Not to my recollection,” Blackman said.
“He was upset, wasn’t he?” Dick asked.
“I wouldn’t say upset,” Blackman answered.
Const. John Stewart asked for the court’s patience with him in his testimony about the call to attend the scene.
“This has been a difficult call for me,” he told Denhoff. “And for everyone who was there.”
Anderson went through several videos from the area surrounding the intersection with Stewart.
They showed the Ford increasing speed and entering the intersection. The impact itself was not seen but the Ford was seen bouncing to its final resting spot.
The trial is set for four days. The court will hear from a total of three police officers and two civilian witnesses.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the child was 11 months old.
