In the blink of an eye, Curtis Sagmoen explodes in anger, attempting to throw a chair while being interviewed by police.
The outburst is caught in police video, which was released to Global News after a successful court bid to publicly release parts of Sagmoen’s B.C. Supreme Court trial in Vernon.
Sagmoen is accused of using a shotgun to threaten a woman, whom he connected with on a website frequented by sex trade workers, in August 2017.
He is charged with five counts including firearms offences, uttering threats and possession of methamphetamine and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
When Sagmoen, then 36 years old, was arrested weeks after the alleged offence, police questioned him for hours over the span of two days.
WATCH BELOW (Aired Sept. 17, 2019): New evidence released in trial of Curtis Sagmoen
While there is no confession captured in the recordings, the RCMP officer does get Sagmoen to say that he has called women from a website that police say contains escort ads. However, Sagmoen tells police he’s never met up with the women he contacted.
Sagmoen also denies watching the escorts show up for a rendezvous.
At one point, police say he has a history with escorts, to which Sagmoen replies “what, I’ve called like maybe four, four escorts in my life. So that’s a f-in’ history?”
WATCH BELOW (Aired Sept. 9, 2019): Day 1 of trial of Curtis Sagmoen
An officer later replies “five minutes ago, you’re denying having any history with escorts, you know.”
The RCMP officer shown in the video also wants Sagmoen to weigh in on allegations an escort was invited to attend his next door neighbour’s property on Salmon River Road.
The officer lays out a scenario where an escort arrived to find a closed gate and when she got out of her vehicle to unlock it, a man came out of the woods holding a gun.
However, Sagmoen vehemently denies, in the recording, that he ever called escorts to his house, discharged a firearm or threatened anyone.
It’s when a police officer tells Sagmoen that the RCMP has seized computers from his parent’s house, that the North Okanagan man explodes in anger.
Sagmoen picks up a chair in the police interview room and looks like he’s going to throw it.
“I don’t even live at the house,” said Sagmoen.
“Sit, sit, sit,” said the officer.
“Like f–. What about my mom?” asked Sagmoen.
“We’re here to talk about it,” said the officer. “You losing your cool’s not helping.”
WATCH BELOW (Aired Feb. 19, 2018): Sagmoen in Salmon Arm court seeking bail
By the end of Sagmoen’s first formal interview with the officer, he is hunched over with his head on a table in the interview room.
He makes several comments about wanting to go to sleep telling the RCMP interviewer “I’m tired” and “I need to lay down” as the officer continues to press him.
On Tuesday morning at Vernon Supreme Court, Justice Alison Beames lifted part of a publication ban that had been challenged by Global News and CBC.
Beames ruled that certain exhibits could be released, including key video evidence of Sagmoen’s police interrogation and photographs of evidence found at the crime scene.
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