The trial of a man accused of fatally killing 69-year-old Tony Knuutila in a January 2023 car accident started Tuesday morning in Fairbanks.
Timothy Michael Bristor, 51, faces a charge of felony criminal negligent homicide in connection with the death of Knuutila.
Assistant District Attorney Shaun Lucas told the jury in his opening statement how Bristor crashed into Knuutila on Jan. 8, 2023.
“Eight seconds. Eight seconds was all it took for Tony Knuutila to lose his life,” Lucas said.
Knuutila was stopped at a red light on Bentley Trust Road and when the light turned green, he started to turn left onto the Old Steese Highway, according to Lucas.
Lucas said, “As he was in the middle of the intersection there was a large truck that was coming down the Old Steese Highway. The truck did not appear to be slowing down even though it had the red light.”
The truck swerved, but collided with the drivers side of Knuutila’s car.
Fairbanks police responded to the scene from the Hungry Robot parking lot. Knuutila was still in the drivers seat and did not respond when police officers tried to get his attention.
“There was no response by Tony that day and there would be no further response from as he would later pass away from his injuries,” Lucas said. He argued that Bristor’s failure to see the red light caused the crash that led Knuutila’s death.
Lucas told the jury that they will hear from an eye witness, law enforcement, doctors and Knuutila’s spouse.
Defense attorney Michael Branson told the jury in his opening statement that while the accident was tragic, Bristor was not criminally negligent.
“This was an accident, plan and simple,” Branson said. “A tragic accident.”
Branson told the jury that the evidence will show that Bristor was not trying to beat the light and he was not distracted.
Branson said that Bristor was running errands on a Sunday before the tragic accident occurred.
He reminded the jury that Bristor is innocent until proven guilty, and asked them to not let the tragic outcome of the crash impact them from applying the legal standard.
“There’s no secrets here. Once again, I implore you not to let emotion drive the decision in this case.”
Fairbanks Police Officer Jordan Sori was the first person to arrive on the scene on Jan. 8, 2023.
She said that the driver of the truck, who they later identified as Bristor, was out of the vehicle and appeared to be okay, but the driver of the Ford Mercury, Knuutila, was unresponsive. Sori testified that she called out to him, shook his arm and gave him a sternum rub and he didn’t react.
At the scene, Bristor told officers that he didn’t remember who had the green light, and repeated that statement when he was interviewed by officers later that month.
Bristor went to the police station and spoke with officers on Jan. 15, 2023. He said that he was driving from Lowe’s to Sentry Hardware, saw a police car in the Hungry Robot parking lot and “next thing I know I was in an accident. I just don’t know what happened.”
“It happened so fast and so slow,” Bristor told officers. A week after the incident, he still didn’t remember what color the light was.
The jury saw photos of the accident, watched videos of Sori’s dash camera and body worn camera footage, watched security footage from Splash & Dash East and Ken’s Fairbanks Alignment, listened to a recorded phone call between Sori and Bristor, and saw a recorded interview between Fairbanks police and Bristor.
The trial will continue Wednesday morning at the Rabinowitz Courthouse in Fairbanks.
Contact Haley Lehman at 907-459-7575 or by email at hlehman@newsminer.com.
