Jury in fatal truck ramming case views police tape

A Calgary man on trial for plowing his pickup truck into a crowd outside a bar, killing a college student last fall, told police in a video-taped interrogation he is not a violent man.

Jeffrey Kevin Leinen, 25, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Nicholas Baier, 18.

The jury watched a police video interrogation of Leinen, in which the accused said he recalled getting in his truck outside the Texas Mickey bar in Olds, about 90 kilometres north of Calgary, and accelerating suddenly. But he did not know whether he had struck someone or not.

"I'm not a…murderer," he told officers, adding he did nothing intentionally and was not a violent person.

Baier was run over and killed when a vehicle driven by Leinen slammed into a a group of people on Oct. 29, 2010 outside the bar. One other victim was seriously injured and two more were treated in hospital for minor injuries.

Victim was Olds College student

Leinen is also charged with aggravated assault and criminal negligence in the operation of motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

It's alleged that before the fatal incident, Leinen had been kicked out of the bar by bouncers after knocking a patron out of a wheelchair and getting into a fight.

Crown lawyer Roy Smith said in court Monday that Leinen left the bar angry and drove around the lot, then gunned his truck towards a group of people standing outside "deliberately and intentionally."

Baier was a second-year student at Olds College studying agricultural management.

Leinen’s trial before a Calgary judge and jury will hear from 25 witnesses. It's scheduled to last two to three weeks.