65-year-old testifies he hasn't walked since harrowing flight out Wellington East window

Gerald Chretien's life radically changed on a November night two years ago.

On Wednesday, the 65-year-old carpenter sat in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom and described a violent encounter with David Carrie. 

What occurred on Nov. 11, 2021, resulted in injuries so severe that he is a paraplegic and "hasn't been able to walk" since then, Ontario Court Justice Romuald Kwolek heard.

Carrie, 57, pleaded not guilty to forcible confinement, assault with a weapon, and assault causing bodily harm.

Chretien sat at the front of the small courtroom, in a wheelchair, detailing what had occurred at 151 Wellington St. E. that night.

He told the court he had gone to Carrie's house with a friend to pick up some of her clothes, and some tools and clothes he had there.

When Carrie answered the door, he confronted Chretien.

"He said I owed him a bunch of money," Chretien said. "I didn't know what he was talking about."

Carrie accused him of stealing a bike, but "I never saw him with a bike," the witness told assistant Crown attorney Trent Wilson.

He said he went upstairs to get his clothes, Carrie followed him into a bedroom, shut the door and then slapped him in the face, demanding the money.

"I got up and jumped on a bed," he testified, because the accused was holding an iron bar, which Chretien also called an ironworker's spud wrench, in his hand,

He described it as 30-inch tool with a wrench on one end and a bar on the other.

Carrie swung it upwards trying to hit him

"If I hadn't jumped sideways, he would have hit me in the head," instead the implement struck a window pane, behind him, breaking the glass.

The window swung open, and Chretien said he went out the second-floor window onto the porch roof to get away from Carrie, who was coming after him.

"I was running for my life" and "trying to get off the roof."

He grabbed the eaves trough.

"It swung out and broke in half with my weight," he said.

His foot hit the porch railing, "turned me upside down and I landed on my head."

Chretien said he remembers yelling for help and that he had no movement in his legs.

"I couldn't move. I was dying there," he told Wilson. "It's something I don't really want to relive, but it's in front of my face now."

Carrie came out of the house twice, grabbed him and tried to bring him back inside.

"All I felt was my neck and I told him he was hurting me."

Chretien said he remembers paramedics putting him on a board, but recalls nothing after that.

He spent a year in the hospital in the Sault and Sudbury.

During that time, he underwent surgery, suffered three cardiac arrests, was treated for infections, and had numerous other procedures.

The court heard Chretien has a lengthy criminal record and admitted that he used drugs "socially."

He said he had snorted crystal meth on Nov. 10, but insisted he wasn't using any narcotics and wasn't drinking on the day of the incident.

Also on Wednesday, two paramedics, who responded to an anonymous 91l call regarding a man who possibly had overdosed, also testified.

They arrived at the Wellington Street house about 9:20 p.m, and found Chretien on his back on the lawn with a rolled-up jacket tucked under his head.

The man was conscious, had multiple injuries, and no feeling from his toes to his hairline, Joseph Hocevar said.

"He told us he had fallen out of a third-floor window after being chased by a man."

Calling it a "severe medical emergency," Hocevar said "we wanted to get him to hospital as fast as possible."

The paramedic said he couldn't say for sure whether Chretien was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Kamran Sajid pointed to their reports which indicated Chretien had said he had smoked crystal meth.

Hocevar said he couldn't say the man appeared high.

"He seemed to be aware of what was going on and described his injuries."

Police weren't called to the scene of the incident, but began an investigation two months later.

Kwolek heard from a city police detective who spoke to Chretien at the Sault Area Hospital in January 2022.

He had injuries related to the incident - couldn't use his legs and had minimal mobility in his arms and hands - Det. Cst Steven Potter said.

After getting the man's statement, he obtained copies of the paramedics' reports and medical records from the two hospitals.

On Jan. 21, he took photographs of the exterior of the Wellington Street home.

As well, he began searching for the woman Chretien said he had gone there with him, but wasn't able to locate her.

The trial continued Thursday with Carrie's lawyer cross-examining Chretien.