The first day of the trial of a Yukoner accused of driving while impaired and severely injuring two of his friends ended Monday with the viewing of the man's first emotional interview with police.

It was Dec. 14, 2009 when Michael Schmidt was driving from Whitehorse to Haines Junction with his passengers, Jessica Frotten and Michael Sanderson.

His Honda Civic came off the road on the Alaska Highway near the Takhini River bridge and rolled several times, ejecting both passengers.

Frotten, then 21, suffered a broken back, torn aorta, broken feet, punctured lungs, several broken ribs and a concussion.

She spent several weeks in a medically-induced coma at an Edmonton hospital and now uses a wheelchair. It is unlikely she will ever walk again.

Sanderson, then 29, broke his right shoulder, left leg, multiple ribs and tore the ligaments in his left knee.

Schmidt now faces six charges, including impaired driving causing bodily harm and the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

The day after the crash, Schmidt is seen on the tape sobbing loudly in a police interview room, often with his head down on the desk.

"Oh, God, oh, God,” he can be heard saying over and over again.

Schmidt tells the RCMP interviewer, Const. Derek Turner, that he could feel the extensive damage done to Frotten's back when he found her.

"It's all I can think about,” he tells the officer, sobbing.

Schmidt said he had hoped he and Frotten were going to start dating, after having shared their first kiss on the afternoon of the crash.

After being told of the potential life-threatening nature of Frotten's injuries, Schmidt again breaks down.

"Oh, my God, she might die,” he wept.

"I'll never make up for it, I can never make up for it,” he said later in the interview. "I hurt my friends, I'll never be able to sleep again.”

Watching the interview again on Monday brought Schmidt to tears.

Many in the courtroom could also be seen wiping their eyes.

Even after repeated questioning, Schmidt insists in the interview that he had only had one or two glasses of beer from a pitcher the trio had shared over lunch that afternoon at Whitehorse's Airport Chalet, and an Irish coffee earlier that morning.

"I didn't think it would be enough to make me intoxicated,” he repeatedly tells the officer through tears.

The 30-year-old asks about his blood alcohol level, but Turner says that information is not immediately available.

Schmidt tells Turner the car hit a bump on the highway and "threw us to the side.”

Both passengers testified Monday in front of Justice Ron Veale.

Frotten told prosecutor Bonnie Macdonald that she wanted to go to Haines Junction that Monday afternoon to buy moccasins as a Christmas present for her sister.

It was her day off from working at the Yukon Brewery.

After making a number of stops in separate cars, including to Frotten's job to pick up some beer and to the Airport Chalet for lunch, the trio all got in Schmidt's car for the trip to Haines Junction.

Frotten told the court that after drinking at the restaurant, all three were drinking beer in the car; however, in his interview with police, Schmidt denies that.

"They may have been, but I wasn't,” he said at the time.

The speed the car was travelling when it crashed is also in question.

Frotten testified the Honda was going at 140 kilometres an hour, telling the court she remembers travelling so fast her head would hit the roof whenever the car went over a bump.

"I remember telling him to slow down,” she said.

That is one of the last things she remembers before waking up in the hospital, Frotten said.

On the tape of his police interview, Schmidt tells the officer he had not been speeding. In fact, he insists he slowed down prior to the crash because of the number of frost heaves in the road.

Sanderson testified he was very intoxicated at the time of the crash but does not remember speeding nor having any concerns regarding Schmidt's sobriety.

He added that it is unlikely he would have ridden in the car without his seatbelt had he been concerned for his safety.

Testimony also differs when it comes to whether Frotten had been wearing a seatbelt.

Frotten, who has no memory of the crash itself nor of the time immediately afterwards, testified she remembers putting on her seatbelt but putting the shoulder strap behind her back so that she could twist sideways in her seat.

As for how much Schmidt had to drink that afternoon, neither Frotten nor Sanderson could be sure.

Staff at both the Yukon Brewery and the Airport Chalet testified that, at the time, they saw nothing about the situation that would have caused them concern.

The trial continued today.