Video at manslaughter trial shows interaction between 2 men outside Saint John strip club

Video surveillance outside a Saint John strip club shows Mark Baker interacting with the man accused of killing him shortly after closing time on Oct. 26, 2019. 

Baker, 59, milled about outside the bar and could be seen talking to a woman and interacting with a group of people before walking out of camera range. 

The video shows the accused, Garrett Johnston, leaving in the same direction a short time later, and it doesn't capture  what happened next between the two.

But in his opening remarks on Monday, Crown prosecutor Jeremy Erickson said what happened next isn't in dispute.

Shortly after Johnston disappeared from the video, he punched Baker once in the face. Baker fell backwards and landed on the sidewalk, where he stayed until emergency personnel arrived and took him to hospital. He died of his injuries the next day. 

Johnston, 24, is on trial for manslaughter in Baker's death. 

On the second day of his trial, the court heard from the first officer on the scene on Oct. 26, 2019. 

Const. Tammy Spence was driving along Sydney Street before 2:30 a.m. in a "subdued" traffic car, which doesn't have the highly visible police markings that normal patrol vehicles have. 

It was after closing time at Club Blush, a strip club on Sydney Street near the intersection with Union, and a crowd had gathered outside. 

As Spence passed by the crowd, heading north toward Union Street with her window down, she heard "a loud male voice make a comment about 'clocking' someone or 'smoking' someone. I can't recall the exact words, but my initial thought was that somebody had already been assaulted." 

Spence said she couldn't identify the speaker, but the crowd's attention was focused on a male figure in a black Harley-Davidson hoodie. 

She scanned the crowd but didn't see anyone in distress, so she kept driving toward the intersection. That's when she noticed a man lying on the sidewalk at the corner of Union and Waterloo streets.

She found Baker with both arms over his head and a pool of blood forming around his head. She said blood was coming from his mouth, and he was gurgling as he tried to breathe. She said he was unconscious the entire time.

"I knew that it was very serious," Spence said.