Lawyer for BC Mayor Charged With Public Mischief Suggests Client Treated Unfairly

Lawyer for BC Mayor Charged With Public Mischief Suggests Client Treated Unfairly
Outgoing Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum, who was defeated in the recent municipal election, arrives at provincial court for the first day of his public mischief trial, in Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 31, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)
The Canadian Press
11/1/2022
Updated:
11/1/2022
0:00

A lawyer representing Surrey, B.C., Mayor Doug McCallum suggests RCMP decided early into an investigation that his client deceived police by saying his foot was run over in a grocery store parking lot.

Richard Peck is questioning the primary investigator at McCallum’s provincial court mischief trial and says police couldn’t tell in surveillance video if the mayor’s foot had been injured by a woman driving a vehicle.

RCMP Sgt. André Johnny told court that investigators re-enacted a scene from surveillance video but a bush in the parking lot may not have allowed the camera to capture exactly what happened on Sept. 4, 2021.

The court has heard McCallum filed a complaint with the RCMP that day, saying a woman ran over his foot before nearly pinning him to the back of his vehicle.

McCallum was charged with public mischief last December when RCMP headquarters in B.C. took over the investigation, but Peck says that was hardly an independent agency.

The mayor ran and won the job on a promise to replace the RCMP with a city police force, and the trial has heard the woman he accused of running over his foot was part of a group that opposed the plan.