Less than two hours after his Mercedes-Benz slammed into another vehicle on Highway 7/8 west of Kitchener, killing a woman and severely injuring an infant, Ahmed Darwish was in custody at the OPP detachment in Cambridge.
Over the course of an hour, he was repeatedly taken back and forth between a holding cell and a room with equipment for sobriety tests.
His interactions with police officers were recorded via surveillance cameras.
During his court proceeding, Darwish’s behaviour during that time was described as “callous” by the Crown, while his lawyer argued that he was crying and shaking while in custody.
In the video, Darwish is seen repeatedly refusing drug and alcohol tests, even after being told that doing so would result in criminal charges.
During officers’ third attempt to get him to submit to the tests – about 15 minutes after the video began – Darwish is informed that a woman in the vehicle he hit had died.
“Somebody is dead as a result of your actions,” a police officer said.
“My car didn’t kill anybody,” he responded after a pause.
Not long after that exchange, Darwish began arguing with police officers, saying that he didn’t think they should be able to test him for alcohol two hours after the crash happened.
Later in the hour, the topic turned to Darwish’s prescription for Adderall – and his admission that he smoked marijuana.
“You’re not supposed to drink on (Adderall) and you’re not supposed to smoke marijuana,” the officer said.
“Trudeau says it’s a legal thing now,” Darwish replied.
Minutes later, talk turned once again to the consequences of the crash.
“You killed somebody tonight. This is very serious,” an officer said.
“Somebody died?” Darwish replied.
Two bottles of open alcohol were found in Darwish’s vehicle after the crash.
On Monday, Darwish was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for impaired driving causing death. He also received a 10-year driving ban.
