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What started as a routine traffic stop quickly turned into a police chase when officers indicated that Anthony Karl Kurucz “could be arrested” for murder, court heard Tuesday.
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But unknown to the accused killer, the Regina traffic stop and subsequent flight from police were all part of a so-called Mr. Big operation to get Kurucz to talk about the death of his infant son.
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An undercover officer told Crown prosecutor Alexandra Russell that he and Kurucz were on their way to make a delivery as part of a sting designed to get the accused to reveal the circumstances surrounding the death of three-month-old Jayden to discuss Cyluck-Kurucz, when they were stopped.
Kurucz, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the little boy’s death on April 27, 2018, two days after the father called 911 to report his son was not breathing.
The Sept. 18, 2019, traffic stop, video of which was played in Kurucz’s Calgary Court of King’s Bench hearing, had the undercover officer pulled over for talking on his cell phone.
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“Don’t move,” he said.
Kurucz and the undercover officer then have a brief exchange before their truck flees the scene.
“We have to get out of here,” Kurucz told his pal.
“Man, they’re going to arrest me.”
A short chase ensued with the officer telling the accused to watch the mirrors for the police.
“How can I be arrested for murder?” Kurucz asked, as they worked to lose their pursuer.
“That’s what I… heard,” the officer replied.
“That’s what I heard,” Kurucz confirmed.
“We’ve got to get the (expletive) out of here.”
During the subsequent drive, where the undercover officer took Kurucz to a Regina secret location for a meeting with an officer posing as a leader in their quasi-criminal organization, the two discussed why he would be wanted for murder .
“Bry was chirping,” Kurucz said of the boy’s mother, Brylee Cyluck.
“Like she’s probably saying that I…killed him or whatever.”
The officer asked why they would want to arrest him more than a year after his son’s death.
“Because of how it happened. He apparently had trauma to his head, but he never hit his head on anything,” Kurucz said.
“There was apparently blood around his brain and blood behind his eyes,” he said.
“And he went into cardiac arrest in my arms.”
The trial continues.
KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts