Doing "something bad"

There one moment, gone the next. When Christine Russell saw her husband, 35-year-old Sgt. Ryan Russell, off for his working day, she could never have imagined in her most miserable nightmares that she would never see him alive again. She now has their son as a memory of their brief married life together. Ryan Russell left his home to take up his shift. At 52 division he slid into a squad car and responded to the 911 calls that came in at 6:00 a.m., of collisions.

A homeless man, Richard Kachkar, who had spent a brief period with his ex-wife and children at Christmas before they invited him to make himself scarce again, was wandering around downtown Toronto near a Tim Hortons at around 5:20 when he noticed that snow-plow operators had left their truck/snowplow running as they ran in for coffees. In the next 45 minutes, Mr. Kachkar, a former licensed heavy equipment operator, ran amok with the snow plow.

He drove the truck through the plate glass front of a Yorkville car dealership, hit two taxis parked nearby, glanced a blow at an airport limosine, drove south in the northbound lanes of Avenue Road, up on sidewalks, performing a number of U-turns. When Sgt. Russell's squad car came on the scene, his lights went on, and Mr. Kachkar U-turned again, heading straight for the squad car. At which turn of events, the police sergeant began backing away.

And then suddenly Mr. Kachkar stopped, opened the driver's door, and it appeared as though he was awaiting Sgt. Russell's approach. As soon as Sgt. Russell exited the vehicle, Mr. Kachkar accelerated and went straight for the police car, hitting it, sliding it backward as Sgt. Russell fired his gun while the truck bore down on him. The plow hit his right leg, knocked him down, and then hit his head.

Mr. Kachkar went on his way with his stolen truck/snowplow as the police sergeant lay on the road unconscious and bleeding profusely. Forty minutes after he left 52 Division, doctors at St. Michael's Hospital pronounced Sgt. Russell dead. The truck/snowplow with Mr. Kachkar at the wheel continued for another half-hour.

Finally, the city's Emergency Task Force stopped the vehicle and its driver. Mr. Kachkar was shot twice after Tasers had failed, and after he had pinned another officer's leg under the plow. A trial charging Mr. Kachkar with first-degree murder and dangerous driving is now being undertaken before Judge Ian MacDonnell and a jury.

Mr. Kachkar has pleaded not guilty. While in hospital he had informed a paramedic he was concerned about being poisoned there. Or microchipped. Because, he feared, "everyone was mad at him". One of the police officers guarding him in hospital was asked by Mr. Kachkar whether his exploit "was in Facebook", and if there was any newspaper coverage.

Coverage yes, Facebook, unlikely.