A B.C. Provincial Court judge found former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum not guilty of public mischief Monday.
Doug McCallum became visibly emotional as Judge Reginald Harris delivered his verdict in the case, which hinged on whether the former mayor had intentionally misled police to trigger an investigation of a political opponent.
McCallum alleged Debi Johnstone, a member of the group Keep the RCMP in Surrey, had run over his foot outside the Southpoint Save-On-Foods on Sept. 4, 2021.
“I am pleased with the decision. And I want to thank my lawyers for their tremendous efforts in this case,” McCallum said outside the courthouse following the decision.
“When you’re a Surrey resident and you’re a law abiding citizen you think, ‘Wow they must have something really big.’ Guess what, they didn’t have anything really big,” former Surrey city councillor Laurie Guerra said outside the court.
“So where does that leave us? That begs the question why do this? Why investigate a mayor that doesn’t have a criminal record.”
The BC Prosecution Service said the special prosecutor assigned to the file will not appeal the case.
In his reasons for judgement, Judge Harris concluded “beyond a reasonable doubt” that McCallum’s foot had, in fact, been run over by Johnstone following a heated verbal exchange.
Inconsistencies in McCallum’s later report to police, including the speed of Johnstone’s vehicle and that he had been “pinned” by her car, were reasonable given the ex-mayor’s emotional state at the time.
“After considering all the evidence, I am satisfied Mr. McCallum found the entire event shocking significantly threatening and likely upsetting,” Harris found.
“In this regard, Ms. Johnstone’s approach was sudden, unexpected and from behind. During the interaction, her language and tone was aggressive and hostile. Throughout she subjected Mr. McCallum to an onslaught of vile and abusive language. Then, and likely adding to Mr. McCallum’s stress, she suddenly drove off over his foot.”
Harris also found Johnstone’s testimony that she hadn’t run over his foot was unreliable, noting it was based on her assumption McCallum was standing on a traffic island at the time.
He also noted that McCallum had cooperated with police, including providing access to his medical records and suggesting they collect CCTV footage from the grocery store.
“It defies logic that Mr. McCallum would deliberately mislead police and then immediately suggest they get evidence (video) that would show him to be a categorical liar and destroy his efforts to mislead,” Harris ruled.
The trial has heard that Johnstone was at the supermarket that day to collect signatures when she spotted McCallum and yelled at him to resign.
The court heard the pair engaged in a heated back-and-forth, during which Johnstone called McCallum “evil” and “scaly-faced” before driving away.
The incident was partially captured on CCTV video, but McCallum’s foot is obscured by bushes. However, he did not visibly limp as he walked away.
Special prosecutor Richard Fowler previously told the court that while the video may not be conclusive about McCallum’s foot, there was enough evidence to show he had committed public mischief.
In his interview with the RCMP, McCallum told police multiple times he was “pinned” by Johnstone’s vehicle, Fowler said, something disproved by the video.
“You can be sure he made false statements. You can be sure he intended to mislead police,” Fowler said in his closing statements earlier this month.
“You can be sure he intended to cause (Debi) Johnstone to be suspected of having committed offences she did not. And you can be sure police commenced an investigation into his allegations.”
Expert witnesses testifying for the defence told the court McCallum’s medical file showed a soft tissue injury consistent with being run over.
McCallum’s lawyers painted a picture of a longstanding political dispute that had degraded into ongoing harassment of the mayor culminating in the parking lot dispute.
They said the heated incident had shocked and disturbed the former mayor, and that any inconsistencies or embellishments in his report to police were a result of him being upset.
Surrey taxpayers paid for the mayor’s defence. New mayor Brenda Locke said the city will continue to explore its options in relation to McCallum’s case.