The families of two teenagers killed in a tragic highway crash in Tracadie, N.S. have heard from the man accused in their deaths for the first time.
William Lionel Edmund Byron Fogarty is charged with two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing death.
Police say the 32-year-old Antigonish man was behind the wheel of his 2002 Crown Victoria when he collided with a 1994 Mustang along a curve on Highway 4 in Tracadie on Nov. 24, 2011.
The driver of the Mustang, 16-year-old Kory Mattie of Havre Boucher, was pronounced dead at the scene.
His friend and passenger, 17-year-old Nicholas Landry of Tracadie, died a short time later in hospital. Fogarty received minor injuries in the crash.
In a video statement played in court Wednesday afternoon, Fogarty said the car driven by the teens came in front of his vehicle and he had no time to react.
He also told police he’s a good driver.
The statement came as a shock to the victims’ families.
“No. That’s the best way to put it. I was just totally blown away,” said Jeannie Landry, mother of Nicholas Landry. “To sit in there and hear that, it’s really unbelievable.”
An RCMP accident reconstruction expert previously testified that Fogarty’s vehicle appeared to have been travelling on the wrong side of the road and struck the other car as it swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid Fogarty’s vehicle.
The trial is expected to wrap up Friday.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
