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Nothing could be done to save gas-and-dash victim, doctor tells murder trial

Gas-and-dash victim suffered stroke: doctor

CALGARY — A neurologist says there was nothing doctors could do to save a Calgary gas station employee brought to hospital after a hit-and-run.

Maryam Rashidi, 35, was trying to stop a driver from leaving the Centex gas station in Calgary without paying in June 2015. She chased the vehicle into traffic and climbed on the hood of the truck to get the driver to return and pay his $113 bill.

Joshua Cody Mitchell, 22, is on trial for a number of charges including second-degree murder.

Court has heard the driver swerved, causing her to fall to the ground where she was run over by the front and rear dual tires of the vehicle causing devastating injuries.

Dr. Phillippe Couillard, an expert in critical care neurology at Foothills Medical Centre, told court Rashidi was brought in by air ambulance and examined by the emergency team.

He said scans and X-rays showed the bone at the base of her skull and the first vertebrae in her neck both had fractures. Couillard said there was bruising on her lung and some cuts.

Couillard said she also remained in a deep coma and a CT scan revealed three out of four blood vessels going to the brain were damaged. 

He said one of the blood vessels was blocked with a blood clot.

"That clot went to the main blood vessel into the brain on the right and caused a very large stroke on that side," Couillard testified.

Couillard said further scans showed a second clot which meant any kind of surgery, including removing a portion of the skull to relieve the pressure, was out of the question.

"She was not a surgical candidate because the brain is broken heavily on both sides and removing the bone will not help."

Her prognosis was poor, he said. Eventually Rashidi's brain continued to swell and pushed down on the brain stem which controls brain function.

"If that continues that process, someone dies," he said.

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Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press