Arjun Sahota testified Thursday that he was not impaired on the night of Oct. 20, 2022, when he drove the wrong way down York Street, struck a pedestrian and fled the scene.
Sahota told Superior Court he has no memory of the incident after 9:30 p.m., when he was at a BMW Canada event at the Liberty Grand. He said he had only two drinks and insisted he had not used cannabis or prescription drugs that night.
“I recall being woken up in the car, restrained by a seatbelt,” Sahota said, adding he was wearing only a black sweater and noticed phlegm on his chest. “I had no idea what happened or where I was. It was as though I was underwater, I could breathe, but I couldn’t make out what was going on.”
Sahota, who was 25 at the time, said his next memory was walking outside on a street with “short buildings,” feeling “exceptionally thirsty” and as if he had “ten-pound dumbbells” on his legs.
According to an agreed statement of facts, 43-year-old Rahim Allani was crossing York St. at Adelaide St. around 10:40 p.m. when he was hit by Sahota’s BMW, which was travelling westbound on Adelaide, which is a one-way street for eastbound traffic.
Sahota then turned south on York St., which runs one way north, and drove roughly three kilometres before parking near Blue Jays Way and Mercer St.
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Allani suffered a broken back and a broken leg, a concussion and continues to walk with a limp. Allani was taken to hospital where he remained for eight-days.
Kuljot Sohal, who attended the BMW event with Sahota, testified that he and his girlfriend repeatedly called Sahota after realizing Sohal’s keys and computer were in Sahota’s car.
When Sahota eventually answered, Sohal said he was yelling, “F-you, F-you.” Sohal testified that he located Sahota parked on Blue Jays Way and believed he was drunk.
He followed Sahota into the Bisha Hotel and told the court he struggled to get him to leave as Sahota resisted.
Hotel surveillance video captured the interaction.
Sohal said Sahota later dozed off in the car while Sohal’s girlfriend drove them home.
The next day, Sohal said Sahota tried calling and texting him, but he did not respond. “I had nothing to say to him,” he testified. The two have not spoken since.
Neurologist Dr. Peter Carlen, who evaluated Sahota for 60 to 90 minutes in November 2024, testified for the defence.
Based on Sahota’s self-report and a forensic psychiatrist’s self-report-based assessment, Carlen concluded Sahota likely experienced a seizure before the collision and was in a postictal state afterward, causing prolonged memory loss.
Under cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Chris Ponesse asked whether someone in a postictal state could drive, hold a conversation or deceive.
Carlen responded that all were possible.
Police body-worn camera footage shown less than three hours after the collision, was played in court.
In the video, Sahota tells an officer outside his father’s home that he had not driven that night and had been in Brampton, Ont., with his wife.
Sahota can be heard offering to text an address in Bradford to his father’s phone.
Sahota testified that four days after turning himself in to police, on Nov. 12, 2022, he suffered a seizure in his sleep. He said his girlfriend described the episode as lasting up to two minutes.
Sahota said he went to Toronto Western Hospital and was told it was most likely a seizure, and was referred to the Toronto Western Neurology Centre.
He said he surrendered his driver’s licence based on the doctor’s advice.
He testified that he experienced two more suspected seizures, on Jan. 27 and March 25, 2023, and went to hospital each time while waiting to see a neurologist. He said he was finally seen on April 10, 2023, and prescribed Keppra. Asked by defence lawyer Sam Goldstein whether the neurologist told him he had epilepsy, Sahota replied, “Correct.”
At the time of the collision, Sahota worked in the CEO’s office at the Toronto Transit Commission.
The TTC confirmed he remains an employee.
Sahota has pleaded not guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
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