Cop tells court of fight with enraged suspect

Hedley man on trial for allegedly threatening, assaulting Mountie

An RCMP officer testified Tuesday a Hedley man had a look of “pure rage” on his face as he approached to allegedly tackle, bite and assault the officer in a 2016 incident.

Bremner Lance is charged with uttering threats and assaulting a peace officer causing bodily harm. His trial began Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton.

The altercation between Lance and an RCMP officer is caught on what appears to be a cellphone video shown in court, with the person holding the phone continually yelling “Bremner, calm down.”

The first Crown witness, Const. Kendal Oliver, testified he found an unlocked, unattended vehicle on Sept. 16, 2016, matching the description of a call for a vehicle driving erratically in the rural community of Hedley.

After running the licence plate through a database, Oliver determined they did not match the vehicle they were on.

Oliver said Lance began to approach him and the vehicle. Lance was swearing and unresponsive to the officer’s requests to keep his distance. Oliver grabbed his policeissue pepper spray and pointed it at Lance.

“Mr. Lance said to me, ‘If you spray me with that, you’re dead.’” Oliver recalled.

Despite discharging the pepper spray from three meters away, Oliver said, Lance was undeterred and “football tackled” him, knocking the officer onto the ground, causing him to hit the back of his head on the asphalt and “see stars.”

Oliver testified the two got back to their feet as the fight ensued and Lance had punched him in the face before returning to the ground.

The video footage shows the two on their feet and grappling on the ground though the fight cuts out of the frame multiple times.

At one point, Lance’s arm can be seen raised, then swinging towards Oliver before cutting out of the frame when Cpl. Chad Parsons arrives as backup, also appearing to swing his arm down at Lance before getting him under control and putting him in handcuffs.

During cross-examination, defence counsel Don Skogstad had Oliver walk back some statements he made Tuesday morning, noting they were not his testimony in the preliminary inquiry.

Oliver admitted Lance never had clenched fists while he approached him.

“In fact at no time did he have his hands raised towards you?” Skogstad asked. “That’s correct,” Oliver replied. Oliver said there were no physical acts made by Lance until he was pepper-sprayed.

Skogstad said he plans to raise arguments surrounding Lance’s statement when he was brought back into police custody at the Penticton detachment following his arrest that day.

Crown counsel Ann Lerchs expects to call Cpl. Parsons when the trial continues today.