The court considered whether police could, without a warrant or consent, enter a damaged vehicle at a fatal collision scene and download Event Data Recorder information showing speed, braking, and accelerator position in the seconds before impact.
Applying the totality of the circumstances privacy analysis, the court held that the accused had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the interior of the vehicle and in the EDR data, and that the warrantless download breached s. 8 of the Charter.
However, applying the Grant framework, the court found the breach was at the low end of seriousness given the unsettled state of the law at the time and admitted the evidence under s. 24(2).
The voir dire was therefore dismissed and the EDR evidence remained admissible at trial.
