Officer who fell through ice after catching bus driver stabbing suspect 'very lucky,' he says

A Winnipeg canine unitofficer described in court Monday the moment he fell through the ice into the Red River while searching for evidence after the fatal stabbing of a bus driver on the University of Manitoba campus.

"I fell in up to my armpits. I ended up catching my arms on the ice," Winnipeg Police Service Const. Justin Casavant testified. "I consider myself very lucky."

Casavant had been walking back across the ice to the west bank of the river after following a set of fresh footprints onto the east side.Just minutes earlier, Casavant and his police dog Banner had tracked Brian Kyle Thomas onto the river ice, where he was arrested.

Thomas, 24, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Winnipeg Transit driver Irvine Jubal Fraser on Feb. 14, 2017.

Thomas's trial is being argued before a 12-member jury and presided over by Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal.

Casavant was the first officer to spotThomas as he made his way across the ice, which had melted significantly in the unseasonably warm weather the previous day. Casavant's boot broke through the thin crust of ice on the surface, into the slush that covered the ice underneath.

A front-end loader operator previously testified that he had followed Thomas from the scene where he and Fraser got into a fight outside Fraser's bus, until Thomas disappeared down the riverbank. When Casavant caught up to him, he was approximately three-quarters of the way across the river.

Crown attorneys Keith Eyrikson and Paul Girdlestone called their final witnesses on Monday and Thomas's defence lawyers do not plan on calling any of their own evidence.

Three members of the Winnipeg Police Service testified Monday.

Dragged off ice

After other officers came and took Thomas into custody, he refused to co-operate, lifting his feet and ignoring commands to walk, Casavant said. The officers were forced to sometimes carry, sometimes drag Thomas off the ice, slipping and falling frequently as they went.

After taking his dog back to the cruiser, Casavant and another canine officer followed Thomas's path onto the ice to search for evidence.

After searching an area on the east side, Casavant'sflashlight battery died, and as he started moving back across the river, the ice broke and he fell into the water.

Officers threw a rope down to Casavant, who crawled out of the hole and onto the ice, then pulled him to the east bank.

The next day, a police crime scene photographer took a picture of what appears to be blood on the snow. Two months later, on April 17, officers found a silver kitchen knife not far from where Casavant was pulled out of the river.

The officer who first spotted the knife, Const. Christopher St. Croix, also testified on Monday.

St. Croix and five other officers searched the east side of the river in spring. He found the knife at the base of a tree, on top of a pile of grass and leaves.

Under cross-examination, St. Croix could not say with any certainty how far from the riverbank the knife had been found, only that he was the farthest away from the river out of the six officers who were searching, They were all between two and 12 feet away from each other at different points, he said.

Court also heard from Sgt. Chris Patts, the supervising officer in the major crimes unit who oversaw the investigation into Fraser's death. Patts confirmed Thomas told police cuts and scrapes on his face and body came during his arrest on the ice.

Crown and defence are expected to make their closing addresses to the jury on Wednesday. That means the jury could start deliberating on Thursday.