Accused known to police

Court told man accused of running over newspaper carrier was mixed up in violent crimes

The Kelowna man accused of running over a newspaper carrier following a police chase was well known to police for his involvement in violent crimes, a police investigator told a Kelowna court Wednesday.

Donald Brodie is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, flight causing bodily harm and three counts of willfully resisting or obstructing a police officer.

Police say he sped away from an RCMP road check on Springfield Road and led Mounties on a chase through Rutland after midnight in December 2013.

The car drove off the road and slammed into Steve Kania as he delivered newspapers at Dundas and Dundee roads.

Cpl. Christopher Williams became aware of Brodie while stationed in Surrey in 2006, he told the court.

“He’d been involved in at least one event that involved the assault of a police officer with a weapon, and I was aware of him certainly from that.”

It wasn’t until April 1, 2013, when Williams was working at the Kelowna RCMP detachment, that he met Brodie in person.

“Mr. Brodie and a couple other individuals were loitering (in) the back corner of the back lot of the police office,” he said.

Williams and two other officers approached Brodie and the others and engaged in conversation with them.

Brodie, whose face and head are covered in tattoos, began showing Williams his tattoos and explaining their meanings to him.

Williams described several of the tattoos, including the letters LOC tattooed on Brodie’s neck, which he indicated stand for Lords of Chaos, a gang active in the Lower Mainland in the mid-2000s, and the number 187, which stands for the California penal code section for murder.

Brodie also showed Williams a tattoo on his chest that read I Kill Police.

“(I) also viewed the screen of his cellphone that had an image of a revolver on it, which was a little disturbing to me,” said Williams.

During the summer of 2013, Williams had frequent contact with Brodie on the streets of downtown Kelowna.

“I made it clear Kelowna was a very small place,” said Williams, adding Brodie was being either seen or checked on by police almost daily. “I made it clear to him if he was going to reside here, he better abide by the law, and if he couldn’t abide by the law and stay out of trouble, then he should probably find somewhere else to live.”

Over the months, Brodie began to be involved in events of violence, including street-level robberies and suspected drug trafficking, said Williams.

Brodie and a group of people also started dressing head to toe in red, similar to other groups such as the Chilcotin Rebel Warriors.

“They were beginning to show themselves on the streets of Kelowna and dressing that way as an intimidation factor, which is common with street-level gangs,” said Williams.

The trial is currently in a voir dire, a trial within a trial, to determine the admissibility of evidence in the case.

Brodie, who is being held in custody, will be tried by judge alone.