The current chief of the East St. Paul police department says the file for the investigation of Crystal Taman's death was never assigned.
Norm Carter was a Sergeant with the department, the night Derek Harvey Zenk's truck slammed into Crystal Taman's car.
Wednesday he told the Taman Inquiry that at the time, he took the case on himself since no one was in charge.
Chief Carter testified he initially began writing his incident report the day of the crash -- but when he came back to work two days later, he discovered that then chief Harry Bakema had erased it and replaced it with his own.
Carter said he revised it and put his name back at the top as lead investigator in charge - but he admitted that even then it still wasn't clear who was in charge.
He told the inquiry Harry Bakema was directing the interviewing of witnesses, and that he put Winnipeg police in charge, even though it was not in their jurisdiction.
Carter also told the inquiry he was at the station when Derek Harvey Zenk was brought in by police car, and that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol.
Chief Carter says he arrested Zenk just four minutes after their meeting, and later requested a breath sample, which was refused.
Harry Bakema is due on the stand in the coming days.
