A Winnipeg police sergeant who hosted an after-party for his off-duty colleagues in the hours before one of them caused a fatal car accident testified Thursday that he didn't notice how much anyone was drinking because he was too busy making popcorn.

At least 10 officers gathered in the kitchen of Sgt. Sean Black's home on the night of Feb. 24, 2005, after they had been out for drinks at Branigan's Restaurant on Leila Avenue in Winnipeg. The group included Derek Harvey-Zenk, who hours later crashed his pickup truck into the car of 40-year-old Crystal Taman, killing her.

Black said Thursday at the inquiry into Taman's death that he wasn't paying attention to how much alcohol Harvey-Zenk or other guests might have consumed because he was preparing snacks.

"I remember being very fixated on trying to get the popcorn maker going," Black testified.

Inquiry lawyer David Paciocco then asked: "What did Derek Harvey-Zenk have to drink?"

"I have no idea," Black replied.

"You've been taken through a list of everybody there and you couldn't say whether they were drinking?" Paciocco pressed.

"At this point, I can't," Black affirmed.

Black did recall that he put a 750-millilitre bottle of whisky and some Bailey's liqueur on the table, and that the next morning when he was cleaning up, the whisky bottle was empty and some of the Bailey's was gone.

He also testified that when the officers left Branigan's for his house, only one seemed too intoxicated to drive, and it wasn't Harvey-Zenk.

On Wednesday, the waitress who served the officers told the inquiry that as many as 15 of the 20 to 25 officers who assembled at Branigan's seemed drunk. She said a man she later believed to be Harvey-Zenk might have had at least eight or nine beers that night, although she said she couldn't be sure.

Lawyers at the inquiry are trying to get to the bottom of how much officers consumed the night Taman was killed.

Black, who will continue his testimony on Monday, has been instructed by Paciocco to "use a tape measure" over the weekend to draw a diagram of his kitchen, ostensibly as part of the effort to find out where police officers were sitting or standing and what they were imbibing.

Former Ontario judge Roger Salhany heads the inquiry. He is expected to issue his final report by the end of September.