Jury at Kachkar trial sees video of police interview

The jury at Richard Kachkar’s trial on Friday saw video of a police interview in which the accused killer of Sgt. Ryan Russell admitted: “I don’t know why I did it.”

Kachkar, 46, is accused of first-degree murder and dangerous driving in Russell’s Jan. 12, 2011, death. Kachkar has pleaded not guilty.

Read our full trial coverage.

At the start of the trial, the judge said Kachkar was operating the snowplow that struck and killed Russell, 35, but the jury must determine his state of mind.

“I don’t remember what happened [the morning of the crash],” Kachkar said on the video, recorded on Jan. 25, 2011 at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex.

“I was in the ambulance. My arm, it was twisted, but I don’t remember much…I saw blood everywhere,” he said.

Kachkar told officers about troubles with his estranged wife and children and about problems in his family life as a child. He said he was adopted by an Armenian family when he was a baby.

“I never seemed to be able to do anything right,” he said of his life growing up in Edmonton.

While Kachkar said he “felt bad” staying at a shelter as an adult, he didn’t like being at home either.

“My son didn’t want me around. I could feel it,” he said in the video.

“I was really not supposed to be there, except just to walk the dogs.”

When his family didn’t want him around anymore, Kachkar said, “they would just tell me to f—off.”

Kachkar said he was often confused and didn’t “feel good.”

“I’m not feeling good now…I’m not supposed to be talking.  I’m supposed to wait for a lawyer,” Kachkar said.

“I’m not feeling well. I’m just losing everything. I feel so empty and drained. I don’t know why I’m here even…Now I’m in prison.”

“I don’t want to be here but I’m here. I follow the rules.”

Kachkar said he didn’t remember the morning he struck Russell with the snowplow, or being in the ambulance after the fatal crash. He also asked for legal counsel.

“Isn’t it better if I speak to my lawyer, and he can speak to you?  I’m just saying, something happened here,” Kackhar says during the interview.

“Sorry’s not even a word,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be, it was an accident…”

The jury also heard more about Kachkar’s employment background. He said he worked for a B.C. pharmaceutical company. He also told police he drove trucks for Krispy Kreme in Mississauga, and worked at a Ferrero Roche plant in Brampton and on construction sites.

He told police he was then trained as a heavy equipment operator in St. Catharines.

When the trial opened on Feb. 4, the court heard that a barefoot Kachkar stole the snowplow from outside a Tim Hortons at Parliament and Cole streets and then drove the vehicle for two hours before the fatal confrontation with Russell at Avenue Road and Dupont Street. Russell fired shots in an effort to stop the snowplow, which then hit his legs and forced him to fall with such force that his skull was fractured and died.

The trial continues.

 

Kachkar-policeinterview by CityNewsToronto

With files from Marianne Boucher

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