Police document details McCallum altercation

It says video appears to refute Surrey mayor's version of events

Statements in court documents related to Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum's mischief trial appear to refute the mayor's version of an altercation with opponents on Sept. 4, 2021 in a Surrey Save-OnFoods parking lot.

McCallum reported a hitand-run to Surrey RCMP outside the Save-On-Foods store on 152nd Street and gave a statement to police that he was “pinned between” two vehicles, according to the documents, which were released to Global News.

He was charged with public mischief for his statement to police over the altercation, which was with a group collecting signatures on a petition opposing one of McCallum's pet political projects.

In the statement, McCallum told police the driver of the vehicle, a prominent member of Keep the RCMP in Surrey, a citizen's group opposed to the mayor's plan to transition Surrey to a municipal police force, had pulled up to him after he had parked his car. McCallum said that driver then “floored” her car to leave and ran over his foot as she pulled away, according to the document.

However, the police document, an information to obtain evidence through search warrants, notes that “video surveillance shows that McCallum was not pinned up against a vehicle,” when the other driver pulled up to him. Instead, it said the video shows that McCallum had been walking across the parking lot and shows that “McCallum turned around and walked over to (Debra Johnstone's) car.”

As for his statement that she “tore” away, the video “shows Johnstone slowly roll through the right hand turn and then proceed at a normal speed through the parking lot,” the document said.

Global News successfully challenged a court order that sealed the information-to-obtain documents over the risk that disclosure “would jeopardize the conduct of the investigation.”

Last week, a judge granted Global's application to unseal a redacted set of documents.

Media lawyer Dan Burnett, who represented Global News, told the outlet that releasing such documents was a matter of public interest in a high-profile case.

The trial begins Oct. 31. McCallum has refused to comment on the matter.