Susan Clairmont: Man whose injuries prompted SIU investigation is on bail for involvement in fatal Hamilton crash
A man who plunged from a hotel window as police arrived to break up a party was on bail for a crash that killed a passenger in his car.
It is unclear how or why Bulend (Typhoon) Dikici, 20, went out the window. But the party he was at was almost certainly in violation of current pandemic lockdown rules and his attendance there raises the possibility he was breaching his bail conditions.
However his lawyer, Jaime Stephenson, says her client was not breaching his bail conditions. She says he is in hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries.
Dikici has posted photos taken from his hospital bed to his Instagram account.
The hotel incident has sparked a probe by the province's Special Investigations Unit.
The SIU investigates any time a person is seriously injured or killed during an interaction with police or any time there is an allegation of sexual assault involving police.
Dikici first made headlines last year.
He is alleged to have been behind the wheel on June 3, the night Mackenzie Mann, 20, was killed. The promising and popular McMaster University student, who hoped to become a speech pathologist, died at the scene.
Two other passengers in Dikici's Honda Civic were seriously injured, as was the driver of a second vehicle.
Dikici is to appear in court, via Zoom, later this month to answer to his charges of criminal negligence causing death, three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and driving with a blood alcohol level above zero while still a novice driver. He was 19.
The crash happened just before 10 p.m. After initially turning down the invitation, Mackenzie agreed to join Dikici and two other male friends to go to a bonfire.
She got into the back seat of Dikici's car when he picked her up at her home.
At the intersection of Airport and Nebo roads, Dikici allegedly T-boned a Ford Escape.
Salem Kirchel, 41 - the driver of the Escape - was charged with impaired driving.
The investigation was turned over to the Niagara Regional Police collision reconstruction unit because Mackenzie's father is a veteran officer with the Hamilton Police Service. A Niagara Crown attorney will prosecute the case to avoid any perceived conflicts of interest within the Hamilton jurisdiction.
Earlier this month, at about 3 a.m. on May 2, Hamilton police were called to deal with a party at The Sandman Hotel on Centennial Parkway. The SIU says the manager contacted police to report a noise complaint."
The officers attended the fourth floor and heard loud music and voices coming from a room," according to SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon. While the officers were still in the hallway, an individual opened the door and notified police that a guest from the room had fallen from the window."
Officers found a man, 20, injured outside the building.
Three investigators and one forensic investigator are handling the SIU case.
Neither Hamilton nor Niagara police are able to comment because the ongoing SIU prohibits them from doing so.
It is unclear if any new charges will be laid against Dikici.
Susan Clairmont is a Hamilton-based crime, court and social justice columnist at The Spectator. Reach her via email: sclairmont@thespec.com