Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History
True crime, legends, folklore, dark history and other creepy topics from the perspective of real live Canadians.
Botched Justice: The Death of Crystal Taman
Episode 434: On the morning of February 25th, 2005, Crystal Taman, a forty-year-old dental assistant, wife, and mother of three, left her home in East St. Paul, Manitoba on her way to work. She never arrived. Stopped at a red light on Highway 59 at the Perimeter Highway, her car was struck at highway speed by a blue Dodge Dakota truck driven by an off-duty Winnipeg Police Service constable named Derek Harvey-Zenk, who had spent the night drinking with fellow officers at a north-end bar and a colleague's home. Crystal died on impact. Harvey-Zenk refused to provide a breath sample and was charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death, and refusal to provide a breath sample. More than two years later, all charges except dangerous driving causing death were stayed in a plea deal, and Harvey-Zenk was sentenced to two years less a day — served at home, with no conditions. The outcome sparked a public inquiry.
Sources:TAMAN CRYSTAL - Obituaries - Winnipeg Free Press PassagesTaman Inquiry | WikipediaCrystal Ann Sveinson Taman (1964-2005) - Find a...http://www.tamaninquiry.ca/May 2012: No memory of fatal crash: Harvey-Zenk | Winnipeg Free PressReview clears police force after controversial case | Global NewsHarvey-Zenk appeared tired, not drunk, at party before crash, inquiry hears | CBC NewsProvince of Manitoba | Archived News Releases | Taman Report PublishedFormer cop finally takes the stand | Global NewsMajor changes to how police officers will be investigated | CTV NewsPolice told cousin Harvey Zenk was drunk | Global NewsJun 2012: Ex-officer from Taman inquiry sues RCMP, police | Winnipeg Free PressBringing the Thin Blue Line into Line: Bill 16, the Police Services Act, 2011 CanLIIDocs 256Disgraced cop’s lawyer slams Taman inquiry | Global News
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Podcast Episodes
Unnatural Selection — The Alberta Eugenics Act
Episode 424: Between 1928 and 1972, the Alberta government authorized the forced sterilization of nearly 3,000 Albertans deemed "unfit" to reproduce. They were told they were having their appendix removed. Many were chil…
The Murder of Francis Rattenbury: The Man Who Built B.C.
Episode 423: Francis Mawson Rattenbury designed the BC Parliament Buildings, the Empress Hotel, and the building that now houses the Vancouver Art Gallery, as well as many others. He was the most celebrated architect in…
The Hogg’s Hollow Tunnel Disaster
Episode 422: On St. Patrick's Day, 1960, five Italian immigrant construction workers — Pasquale Allegrezza, Giovanni Carriglio, Giovanni Fusillo, and brothers Alessandro and Guido Mantella — died beneath the Don River in…
Ripoffs and a Rolex: The Murder of Ronald Joseph Platt
Episode 421: On July 28, 1996, a fisherman hauling nets off the coast of Devon, England pulled up a body. The dead man had no wallet, no identification — nothing but a Rolex watch still ticking on his wrist. When British…
Every Dog Has Its Day : The Case of Valentine Shortis
Episode 420: On the night of March 1st, 1895, in the paymaster's office of the Montreal Cotton Company in Valleyfield, Quebec, a twenty-year-old Irish immigrant named Francis Valentine Cuthbert Shortis shot three men — k…
The 2017 Las Vegas Shooting: Canadian Connections
Episode 419: On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on more than 22,000 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. In eleven minutes, 58 people were killed and hundreds more woun…
Air Canada Flight 797: The Death of Stan Rogers
On June 2nd, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797 departed Dallas, Texas, bound for Montreal, Quebec, with a stop in Toronto. Forty-one passengers and five crew were on board. Shortly before 7 pm Eastern time, a fire broke out in…
Murder Behind Vinyl: The Tragic Death of Lukas Strasser-Hird
Episode 417: In the early hours of November 23, 2013, 18-year-old Lukas Strasser-Hird was violently beaten behind the Vinyl nightclub in Calgary, in an alley off 10th Avenue Southwest. He was rushed to the hospital, but…
Matthew Baillie Begbie — The Hanging Judge
Episode 416: Matthew Baillie Begbie (1819–1894) served as the first judge of mainland British Columbia during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, arriving in 1858 as the colony struggled to impose order across a fast-growing an…
The Legend of the Thunderbird
Episode 415: For generations, people across North America have reported seeing enormous birds, describing wingspans that seem impossible and encounters they struggle to explain. Long before those reports were written, th…
