The police officer struck by a car and stabbed repeatedly in a 2017 attack in downtown Edmonton was emotional as he testified at an attempted murder trial Thursday.
Const. Mike Cherynyk was on-duty when he was struck by a car outside of an Edmonton Eskimos game on Sept. 30, 2017. Shortly after being struck, he was stabbed multiple times.
Later that night, four people were struck and seriously injured by a U-Haul truck downtown.
Abdulahi Hasan Sharif is accused of perpetrating the attacks and faces 11 charges including five counts of attempted murder and dangerous driving.
Chernyk and those in attendance at court Thursday were presented a video showing the violent incident.
Testifying through tears, Chernyk talked about the moments after he was struck by the car.
“I realized there was a black man on top of me, stabbing me with a knife,” he said. “I was able to get the male off and the knife away from him.”
Crown asked Chernyk what was going through his mind during the ordeal.
“Trying to survive, for my children. I’m a single parent with two kids,” he said.
At one point, Chernyk came within a metre or two of Sharif to demonstrate how close his alleged attacker’s hand got to reaching his gun in its holster.
Earlier in the day, a jury watched surveillance video of the U-Haul careening through Edmonton, driving the wrong way on several streets and hitting one of the pedestrians.
They also saw the video of Chernyk being struck then attacked by the driver.
On day one of the trial Wednesday, many were surprised to learn Sharif would represent himself in court with the help of a Somali translator.
In Crown’s opening statement, prosecutor Elizabeth Wheaton told the jury that Sharif “drove into these people intentionally because he was trying to kill them.”
Two Edmonton Police Service crime scene investigators testified Wednesday and court was shown a series of photos taken of various crime scenes.
The trial is expected to last six weeks.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Bill Fortier. Live updates below.
