Annie Walden liked to play the penny slots.

She was headed for a nearby casino that morning in March, when she was killed by an unmarked police car that plowed into her Jetta.

Annie Walden (Supplied) On Friday, more than three years later, the officer who crashed his speeding car into Walden's Volkswagen was found not guilty of dangerous driving causing death.

Naydene Gibson left the courtroom quickly after the verdict was read.

Throughout the preliminary hearing, and the week-long trial, she had sat day after day on that hard wooden bench, just so her friend would have someone in the room.

All along, Gibson said, she had a good idea what the outcome would be.

"It was what we were expecting," she said. "He's a police officer."

But she had hoped that Const. Chris Luimes might apologize for what happened.

"I feel like they haven't thought of Anne through this trial," she said. "We didn't want the officer to go to jail. It would have been nice if he'd said, I'm sorry for the loss."

Gibson and Walden were close friends for almost 40 years.

She knows exactly where her friend was headed that morning, and thinks she knows why.

The two had a long-standing pact. Each year, they celebrated their birthdays together with dinner and an evening at the casino. On March 8, 2012, Gibson's birthday was only two days away.

"She was heading to the casino," Gibson said, with a certainty only an old friend would have. "She must have been going there to practice up."

Walden never made it to the casino.

A few blocks away, on 76th Avenue and 75th Street, she was trying to make a left turn when Luimes crashed into her car. She died at the scene.

'Collision was tragic'

Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Little heard evidence this week and delivered his verdict Friday morning in an Edmonton courtroom.

"While the collision was tragic and took the life of one driver, and left Const. Luimes permanently disabled, his driving was not a criminal act," the judge said.

Justice Little said he accepted the fact that Luimes was driving 117 km/h when he hit the brakes, about 30 metres before collision.

"He would have had no chance of stopping" because of his speed, Little said.

Little said the evidence showed that Luimes was driving at a dangerous speed, that a reasonable person would have foreseen the risk, and taken steps to avoid it.

But he ruled that Luimes's actions that day did not constitute a "marked departure in the standard of care." He said it was not unusual for police officers to speed while performing their duties.

In his verdict, the judge referred to an internal police department document that reported 41 incidents between 2012 and 2014 where police cars drove more than 50 km/h over the speed limit without using lights or sirens.

All were investigated and found to be justified, he said, which showed that what happened in this case was not an infrequent occurrence.

Luimes was part of a police surveillance team that day, trailing a man suspected of selling stolen gold jewelry. The suspect was not wanted on outstanding warrants.

The constable was speeding up 75th Street, trying to catch up with the suspect, when he hit Annie Walden as she turned her car across his path on 76th Avenue.

He broke the news

Gibson was at work that morning. Just before lunch, the receptionist came by to say someone was waiting for her. She walked to front and was surprised to see her husband there, because he never showed up at her office.

He broke the news.

"It was like one foot was nailed to the floor," she said. "I just kept going around and around in circles."

Walden, 84, had just been accepted into a seniors' complex. Her husband had died back in December, and she planned to move into a smaller place.

She never got the chance.