The trial for a West Vancouver man accused in a hit-and-run on a cyclist has begun.

William Charlton McEachnie, 49, is charged with one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident involving bodily harm.

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The crash happened on the evening of June 10, 2017 on the 1900 block of Bellevue Avenue when the driver of a black pickup truck struck the victim, Eric Latta, from behind.

Latta testified Monday he was just minutes from home following a three-and-a-half hour triathlon training ride to Richmond and back when the crash happened.

Latta told the court he had no memory of the crash itself – just dreamlike recollections of being on the pavement and moaning and hearing the sound of sirens. He later woke up in hospital. Latta suffered a concussion in the crash with symptoms that persist to this day, as well as three broken ribs, severe whiplash, a herniated disk in his neck, ligament damage to his ankle and knee, as well as road rash, the court heard.

According to the Crown, the case hinges on proving that McEachnie was the one driving his truck at the time, that he knew he had injured someone and that he fled the scene in an attempt to escape liability. McEachnie has elected to be tried by judge alone.

Witness Janelle Peters who was working as a delivery driver at the time, testified she saw the collision in her rearview mirror. Peters said she looked up when she heard screeching tires.

“That’s what struck me. There was no apparent reason for this speeding up or the collision,” Peters told the court. “I was pretty scared. I was mostly shaken up because I didn’t know if he would be OK.”

Peters testified the driver of the black truck then veered into the oncoming lane, blew through the stop sign and turned right onto 20th Street.

On Tuesday, McEachnie’s aunt Gail testified she had spoken with McEachnie the day after the collision and that he had mentioned in passing he might have hit “something” on the road.

“But he didn’t seem overly concerned about it so I wasn’t too concerned myself,” she said.

The crash was captured on a nearby apartment building’s surveillance camera. West Vancouver police released the footage to the media the next day in hopes of getting witnesses to come forward. When Gail saw the footage on TV that night, she called McEachnie.

“I thought ‘Oh my goodness. I hope not. I pray to god it wasn’t,’” she said. “He seemed very, very upset to me.”

After meeting with the rest of his family and watching the footage online, McEachnie hired a lawyer and went to the West Vancouver police department to make a statement, the court heard.

“He was just beside himself. I truly believe he didn’t know,” Gail said.

McEachnie’s trial is set to resume on Oct. 29.