An Edmonton man accused of attacking another driver with a crowbar in a road rage incident insists he is innocent.
Jared Eliasson is charged with the attempted murder of Chelsey Schendzielorz in March 2017.
It’s alleged Schendzielorz honked her horn at Eliasson when he was blocking the road. Eliasson was out delivering newspapers in the King Edward neighbourhood at the time.
Schendzielorz got around the other car and drove a short distance to the front of her house when she said the same small silver vehicle drove up and parked behind her.
She said the driver got out holding a weapon and hit her twice, breaking both her arms.
Eliasson was arrested and charged the next day after police received numerous tips from the public.
On Tuesday afternoon in Court of Queen’s Bench, a videotaped two-hour police interview was played for Justice Adam Germain.
After nearly 45 minutes of small talk, Detective Ian Brooks bluntly asked Eliasson, “Did you do it? Did you hit that woman with a crowbar?”
“No,” Eliasson answered.
He admitted that he remembered being honked at by another driver around 7 a.m. the day before, but insisted he never followed the other car. Eliasson said after he was honked at, he got out of his vehicle to deliver a couple of newspapers, then received a text from his mother who wanted to meet him to give him more papers and flyers.
Allow me to say with a smile…I don’t know what you’re talking about.– Jared Eliasson
“I’m not going to go around randomly beating people,” Eliasson said. “I was looking for a house.”
Later in the interview, he told the detective: “I don’t care about this person. That’s why I don’t care about her story. That’s why I’m sticking to my story. My story is complete fact. Allow me to say with a smile… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Eliasson called the victim’s version of events “the fantastic, unbelievable portion,” at one point even suggesting that perhaps she broke her own arms in an attempt to extort money from someone.
Chelsey Schendzielorz suffered two broken arms after she was attacked by a man with a crowbar. (Emily Fitzpatrick/CBC)
The detective continued to push Eliasson to confess. Brooks suggested he may have been suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder because he was the victim of a random stabbing in 2014.
“When you got stabbed, things went sideways for you,” Brooks said. “I don’t think you’re a bad guy. You just lost it. You came close to killing her.”
“It wasn’t me,” Eliasson continued to insist. “Whether or not you believe it.”
‘I want to have the guilty party’
On Tuesday morning during cross-examination, Eliasson’s lawyer, Zack Elias, challenged the victim’s changing version of events.
The day after she was attacked, police interviewed Schendzielorz in hospital as she was recovering from surgery.
She told a detective she had been attacked by a man wielding a two-foot-long silver tire iron that was flat at one end with a lug nut at the other end.
Police seized this crowbar from the back seat of Jared Eliasson’s car. (Edmonton Police Service)
Her story changed after she was shown a police photo of the dark blue crowbar that was seized from Eliasson’s car back seat.
On the witness stand Monday, Schendzielorz said the street lights and headlights made the weapon look silver, but she was “now able to recall” the weapon was actually a dark blue crowbar.
After police showed her photos of coats and hats seized from Eliasson, Schendzielorz changed her initial statements about the clothing her attacker was wearing.
The description of her attacker also evolved. At first, Schendzielorz told police he was about six-foot-one, with a medium to bigger build, brown hair and “very blue eyes.”
Eliasson’s eyes are brown, he’s shorter than six-foot-one and in her testimony, Schendzielorz described his current build as “slim to medium.”
Schendzielorz did not pick Eliasson out of a photo lineup police showed her, but did choose two other men.
At the preliminary hearing, she was unable to say with certainty that the accused was the man who attacked her. But when she testified Monday, after a long pause, she positively identified Eliasson as her attacker.
She said the reason for her uncertainty at the preliminary hearing was that Eliasson looked different because of a weight loss. She said he’s since gained that weight back, and she imagined him wearing a tuque.
The defence lawyer challenged her.
“I’m going to suggest to you the reason you believe there’s differences in weight and build was that it was not Mr. Eliasson that attacked you,” Elias said.
“It was some other individual. Do you think that’s possible?”
“No,” Schendzielorz said.
Jared Matthew Eliasson is current charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. (Facebook)
“Is it possible you believe Mr. Eliasson to be your attacker so you can get closure?” Elias continued. “Do you simply want him to be the one who attacked you?”
“No, I want to have the guilty party,” she responded.
Elias suggested the victim’s memories have changed to match the evidence that was gathered by police.
Schendzielorz refused to admit her memory was changing.