The pickup truck driver involved in an escalating confrontation that led to last July's pepper spraying incident on Sechelt Indian Band lands has been found guilty on all charges.
Justice Anne E. Roun-thwaite found boys' soccer coach Troy Mayers guilty on two counts of obstruction of a peace officer and one count of failing to stop for a police signal. Mayers was the driver of a pickup truck containing 11 Sechelt Nation youths celebrating their soccer teams' then-recent tournament victories by "going honking," a vehicle procession that's become a Band tradition for the past 30 years. Rounthwaite said Const. Glen Martin's police car parked perpendicularly across the road in front of Mayers with lights on was "a clear and inescapable signal" that Mayers should have stopped for. Mayers' assertion that he didn't believe the officer had any intent to stop him is "not believable for several reasons," wrote Rounthwaite in her reasons for judgment.
Video evidence of the July 2 incident shot by a Band member after Mayers was stopped played a key role in Rounthwaite's decision on the two obstruction counts, each of which dealt with Mayers' interactions with a different RCMP member.
"While the video does not provide a continuous unobstructed view of the interaction between Mr. Mayers and Cpl. [Max] Fossum it does appear to show things that contradict Mr. Mayers' evidence," wrote Rounthwaite.
For that count, Mayers was found to be resisting the handcuffs Fossum was trying to secure on his wrists, by turning around and failing to face a police van and by tensing his arm muscles. Mayers testified he heard an officer tell his wife to "f*** off" after she'd demanded the RCMP let Mayers go.
Rounthwaite noted the video evidence shows Mayers "appeared to be arguing with [Fossum], rather than being co-operative as he said." The video also shows Mayers turning to face Fossum before he was pepper sprayed, Rounthwaite wrote. Fossum testified he feared Mayers would break free and fight and said the two other people he sprayed were attempting to assault the police.
The other obstruction count related to Martin's initial attempt to arrest Mayers. Martin testified after eventually stopping Mayers' truck on Sinku Drive, Mayers appeared very agitated and confrontational. When told he was under arrest for failing to stop, Mayers replied "No, I'm not," and walked away as a yelling and chanting crowd began to form. When Martin called for backup, he testified Mayers then said: "You're going to need it. You'll have to arrest us all." Mayers said he was happy at the time, not angry, and that he didn't hear Martin arrest him - testimony Rounthwaite rejected because she said Mayers contradicted himself "without apparent concern."
Rounthwaite did find reasonable doubt that Mayers understood Martin's first attempt to stop him, when the vehicles were travelling towards each other on East Porpoise Bay Road. When Martin put on his lights and siren and signalled with his hand for the truck to pull over, Mayers said he thought Martin was stopping other traffic for the procession, as RCMP have done in the past for these celebratory parades.Sentencing will take place next Wednesday (July 16) in Sechelt court.
