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Okotoks man drunk and distracted prior to fatal collision

Drunk and searching the floor of his truck for a cell phone, an Okotoks man blew a red light in Calgary and slammed into a mini-van three years ago, killing an 11-year-old girl.

Drunk and searching the floor of his truck for a cell phone, an Okotoks man blew a red light in Calgary and slammed into a mini-van three years ago, killing an 11-year-old girl.

Karl Mathew Schwarz, 32 of Okotoks, pleaded guilty to drunk driving causing death in Calgary court last week.

Schwarz was charged with impaired driving causing death, two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, impaired driving over 0.08 causing death, two counts of impaired driving over 0.08 causing bodily harm, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and two counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm five months after a fatal collision near the southeast community of Erin Woods.

Schwarz was out drinking beer with co-workers after work on Sept. 20, 2013. He left the bar and was having an argument with his father on his cell phone while driving south on 52 Street SE. He threw the phone on the floor of his truck in frustration and as he was trying to retrieve it, he T-boned a minivan at the intersection of Erin Woods Drive.

Crown prosecutor Kevin Doyle read an agreed statement of facts last week that Schwarz signed.

“Mr. Schwarz described that he was having a heated telephone conversation with his father as he drove southbound towards Erin Woods Drive,” Doyle read. “In frustration, he threw his mobile phone into his truck’s front, passenger-seat foot-well. He then reached for his mobile phone, heard a bang and passed out.”

The horrific crash was recorded by a nearby business’s surveillance system.

Schwarz’s Ford F150 slammed into the minivan on the driver’s side rear-door, where 11-year-old Tammy Truong was sitting. She suffered massive upper body and head injuries, was thrown from the van onto the road and died on the scene.

“The impact from the Ford F-150 caused an extensive intrusion into the minivan’s interior, with the driver-side passenger-door being forced inward,” Doyle said. “Tammy Truong suffered fatal upper body and head injuries from this intrusion. Tammy Truong was then thrown from the family’s minivan, landing on the roadway’s asphalt.”

Her father, who was driving the van, had a fractured rib and her mother in the passenger’s seat fractured her left clavicle.

Doyle described the extensive damage done to the mini-van.

Schwarz’s truck rolled and landed on its roof after striking the van. The truck was travelling 76 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

He was taken to hospital and five samples of his blood were collected. Court heard Schwarz’s blood alcohol level was double the legal limit.

The defence and Crown prosecutor will give sentencing arguments in March.

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