BUSINESS
WEST
FORMER MAJOR League Baseball pitcher Paul Spoljaric was an instructor at this week’s Blue Jays Honda Super Camp in Kelowna.
ESPORTA has partnered with Metrol Laundry to create a unique washing machine business that offers a service and jobs for people trying to get their lives back on track, reports columnist Maxine DeHart.
IN THE AFTERMATH of the Kraft Hockeyville campaign, the local BCHL junior A hockey club has changed its name from Westside to the West Kelowna Warriors.
A16
82 serving our community 1930 to 2012
A14
Give it the Electric BuZZ!
12995
$
B7
SALES SINCE 1965
SPORTS
SERVICE
PARTS
SAVOY EQUIPMENT
LTD.
1892 Spall Rd,
FSE60 120V .6kW
Kelowna
250-868-1010
THURSDAY July 12, 2012 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
One dead, one hurt in bad accidents
▼ COURT
Kathy Michaels
ASSISTANT EDITOR
No evidence from Mantler in assault trial Alistair Waters
STAFF REPORTER
The Okanagan’s stifling summer traffic yielded deadly returns for motorcyclists this week. A 22-year-old man was killed following a Tuesday crash that shattered his bike, while another Kelowna motorcyclist is fighting for his life following a same-day smash-up in Penticton. The first happened in front of the Okanagan College campus on KLO Road. Mounties say a westbound Suzuki motorcycle was travelling in the lefthand lane of KLO Road close to 3:30 p.m. when it collided with an eastbound VW Cabriolet making a left hand turn into the college parking lot. The Suzuki went into a skid and the motorcycle was laid down prior to impact with the VW. “It was struck very hard and disintegrated,” said Cpl. Andy Burpee, noting it was smashed up into so many pieces, that it was difficult to determine the make of the bike. “Motorbikes will come apart with a hard enough impact.”
DOUG FARROW/CONTRIBUTOR
BEACH WEATHER…The 30 C plus temperatures this week are giving local parents and visiting tourists a chance to entertain the kids by spending a day at the beach, as was the case here on Wednesday at Rotary Beach in Kelowna.
The case against a Kelowna RCMP officer accused of assaulting a Prince George man downtown two years ago wrapped up Tuesday without the Mountie’s lawyer presenting any evidence or calling his client to testify. In a surprising move, Cont. Geoff Mantler’s lawyer, Neville McDougall, announced he would not be presenting any evidence when Crown council Will Burrows finished presenting the case for the prosecution. Mantler is accused of assaulting Manjeet Bhatti in the early hours of August 2010, after Mantler and his partner, Const. Rick Goodwin, saw what Goodwin testified were two men conducting a drug deal in a parking lot behind the Toronto Dominion Bank on Ellis Street. Bhatti, an admitted Geoff Mantler drug addict, said he was buying two rocks of crack cocaine at the time. He testified he fled on a bicycle when he felt he was going to be robbed by the men—he said there was more than one—and encountered Goodwin and Mantler in a marked police cruiser as he fled. Goodwin testified that Bhatti was told to stop because he was not wearing a bike helmet but swore at the officer and pedalled away. He was located a short time later by the officers on Harvey Avenue. Bhatti maintains he was hit on the head, either by Mantler’s fist or elbow, as he was handcuffed and waiting to be put into the back of the police cruiser. The blow, he said, knocked him to the ground and broke his glasses. On the stand Tuesday, Goodwin said he was the one who grabbed Bhatti pushed him up against the car after Bhatti help up his hands saying he was surrendering.
See Accidents A3
See Trial A8
JACOBSEN EXCELLENCE
Y9 7N
Cadillac Dealer Since 1977
N McCurdy Rd.
HW
Okanagan Valley only
+ Leathead Rd. Hwy 33w