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[A city police officer testified on Thursday how he recovered a partially-full 750 millilitre Red Tassel vodka bottle from the concrete mixer of a cement truck involved in a muliple-fatal crash on Dec. 7, 2007

Millman told Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak that he could only see the outline of an object under a thin layer of concrete, so he dug down and pulled it out.

"It was a plastic bottle. It had the lid on it," said Millman. "The liquid in the bottle was clear, and it was approximately one-fifth full, four-fifths empty.

"I opened the lid and smelled the contents. It appeared to be alcohol

Millman said he was uncertain before he went into the drum whether any evidence could be recovered, as it was more than 3 1/2 hours since the crash. So he said he first called his father, who had driven cement trucks for 15 years, and was told the concrete still should be soft enough to do so, but time was of the essence.

Thus, he had to forego obtaining a search warrant or the evidence could be lost.

"Exigent circumstances existed," said Millman. "If I didn't go in now, whatever evidence was in the drum was potentially lost and not recoverable."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Of...912/story.html