DAWSON CITY – RCMP Cpl. David Marentette, now promoted from constable and stationed in High River, Alta. following his three years in Dawson, took the stand in the McDiarmid trial Tuesday afternoon to begin his testimony about the events of Oct. 20, 2011.

Mark McDiarmid, 36, is on trial in Yukon Supreme Court. He is accused of damaging a police car, three counts of assaulting a police officer, one count of possessing a dangerous weapon, two counts of assaulting an officer with a weapon and two counts of attempted murder of a police officer.

As with the other officers at the Dawson RCMP detachment, Marentette only became involved in the matter on the day after McDiarmid had allegedly assaulted his commanding officer’s police vehicle (designated 10 Alpha 3). He was, he told Crown prosecutor Jennifer Grandy, acquainted with McDiarmid in his official capacity after five or six encounters.

Marentette confirmed the six officers on duty that day met in three vehicles on the North Fork Road off the Dempster Highway on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2011 to arrest McDiarmid.

The one remaining member, Const. Justin Smith, was not on duty that day due to a severe ear infection, though his heavier lined jacket and its outer windbreaker shell were in the back of Sgt. Dave Wallace’s vehicle (10 Alpha 2) on that day.

The three vehicles covered the North Fork Road, with Cpl. David Morin and Auxiliary Const. Jayce Murtagh headed the farthest, out past the woodlot where

McDiarmid was thought to be working. They were in Murtagh’s unmarked truck.

Wallace and Const. Jordan McIntyre were waiting near the junction of the North Fork and Dempster, backed into the Ditch Road.

Marentette and Const. Jeff Nielsen were between the others in 10 Alpha 1, a vehicle in which the Video in Car System (VICS) had broken down and was awaiting a replacement unit. From their location, they were able to relay messages between the two other pairs of officers, a necessity since the repeater towers were not up to handling the police band communications for some unknown reason.

All the officers were able to receive on that band, as frequent requests for updates from operations in Whitehorse proved, but were unable to transmit any distance at all.

When Murtagh and Morin indicated McDiarmid was on the move, it wasn’t too long before his headlights lit up all the reflective surfaces on 10 Alpha 1, and Marentette said he heard McDiarmid accelerate.

Alerted to his coming, McIntyre placed the spike belt across the road, with Wallace advising the pair in 10 Alpha 1 to hang back a bit so there would be enough time to remove the belt after McDiarmid hit it.

On the VICS recording of the event, McIntyre can be heard rather excitedly announcing McDiarmid’s arrival and saying he heard him hit the belt.

He dashed out to remove it, and the VICS feed shows Marentette and Nielsen cruising past in pursuit of McDiarmid, who turned the corner onto the Dempster, facing north, and then stopped his truck.

As they turned the corner themselves. Marentette activated the vehicle’s emergency lights and flashers. This may be standard procedure, but on a pitch-black October Yukon night, the light, he said, completely wiped out their night vision.

As they stopped, several vehicle lengths behind their suspect, something hit their window, smearing it with an oily substance. They later determined it was a glass jar McDiarmid had thrown, filled with a chemical mixture.

Marentette recalled the next event almost as a series of flashes.

He testified he saw McDiarmid, looking increasingly angry, advancing on their SUV with what seemed at first to be an axe, held first at his side, then raised, and finally held over his head. At first, it seemed to Marentette that McDiarmid was advancing on him, that they had “locked eyes.”

“I thought he was going to hit me with that axe. I was terrified,” Marentette told the court.

But then McDiarmid’s attention shifted to Nielsen, standing on the other side of the SUV, and he shifted his direction of advance.

In Marentette’s recollection, Nielsen fired first, and his own single shot coincided with Nielsen’s second.

Marentette tripped on the splitting maul, which had been dropped by the suspect, as he advanced toward McDiarmid. At this point in his testimony, he unwrapped the maul, which he had brought with him to court.

Much of the rest of his testimony consisted of offering a narrative to go with the two videos that were shot on the night of the event. One was the VICS video shot by Wallace’s car. The other was shot by Murtagh.

The VICS recording in Wallace’s SUV showed him advancing toward McDiarmid (who can’t be seen in the video) from the other side of the road, holding a Taser at the ready, just in case.

Since McDiarmid wasn’t saying anything or making any noises at all, Marentette said, he thought at first they had both missed.

He took charge of the first aid (having just completed a course) while Nielsen got everyone to stop shouting, and Wallace was at McDiarmid’s head, trying to communicate with him.

Marentette determined that their captive had been hit at least twice. It turned out to be three times, as was discovered back at the Dawson Health Centre.

The officers decided to place McDiarmid in the back seat of 10 Alpha 2, where they checked his back for any other wounds and covered him with Smith’s coat, separated into its component sections.

McIntyre had been dispatched in the other SUV to get to a place where he could radio for EMS support.

When he returned, Wallace decided to go meet the ambulance rather than wait for it to get to them. Morin was left in charge of the scene.

Marentette’s and Nielsen’s duty belts were confiscated and they were put into separate vehicles to work on their notes of the event.

The Murtagh video gave a better sense of the entire scene, showing the locations of the SUVs after McIntyre’s return, the equipment boxes on the ground, the location of McDiarmid’s truck and all of the officers at the scene except for Murtagh himself, who was operating the camera.

Grandy was slated to finish her direct examination this morning, after which McDiarmid will begin his cross-examination. See related coverage below.