(CBC News) – An Alberta farmer charged with seven criminal offences after he apparently chased and shot an alleged thief came close to tears as supporters applauded him outside a rural courthouse Thursday.
Brian Knight, 38, who lives on a rural property in Tees, northeast of Red Deer, was charged with seven offences last month, including assault, criminal negligence causing bodily harm and discharging a firearm.
A Stettler courtroom was packed with about 100 friends, neighbours, relatives and strangers who turned out to show support.
Knight, dressed in a suit, sat quietly in the centre of the front row. The clerk read the seven charges, asking Knight each time whether he understood, to which he quietly replied yes.
When he left the courthouse with his wife and lawyer, Knight’s supporters, who had been waiting outside, erupted in applause. Knight came close to tears.
His lawyer, Jim Dixon, said the Knights were overwhelmed by the support. He said if Knight were being tried in the court of public opinion, the verdict would be clear.
Many of his supporters told CBC News they are frustrated with the state of policing in their community, and wonder whether it’s time to drop the RCMP in favour of a provincial police force or even start electing local sheriffs.
Knight’s supporters have started a trust fund to pay for his legal fees. He is scheduled to return to court at the end of May.
The incident began when Knight spotted three men in his farmyard early in the morning of March 26, according to Bashaw RCMP. Two of the men fled in their own truck while a third sped off on Knight’s all-terrain vehicle.
Knight drove after the man on the ATV, rammed his car into it, and then pulled out a shotgun and fired two rounds at the fleeing man, who was struck, but kept on running, police said.
But the chase wasn’t over just yet. Knight called friends and relatives to help him with his search, police said. The wounded man was intercepted, then briefly escaped in a stolen truck, but lost control of the vehicle and was caught a second time.
Police were then called in to help.
The wounded man, 30, was flown to hospital by air ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries. He was released on a promise to appear for allegedly stealing an ATV and a truck.
Through a few bucks at the farmer?
My, my, my we are generous today.
I’m quite sure when it comes to making an example of this farmer by prosecuting this case, money will not be an issue.
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When you cannot count on anybody else you can always count on yourself.
By the “state of policing” referred to, one could easily argue that there are not enough police, and they are not readily available. What can you expect a person to do.
You are quite correct when you state that they are just doing their job, however, it should be noted, ‘after the fact’.
Depending on the taxpayers willingness to pay, you could have had several police officers and a helicopter on scene in short order if they were available. However, Tees Alberta is but a dot in the vast rural landscape.
Everybody should send the guy a few bucks for his defense fund, and examine the police per pop ratio of other areas.
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No one wants to support the farmer except for the 100 or so that showed up in court that day?
People seem to be fed up and it looks like they are taking matters in their own hands and opting to enforce justice themselves, (not good and so sad the people have lost confidence) but at least someone gets charged here for using excesive force.
In my opinion this is not at all lining up to the many reports we have been reading here about the ones who consider themselves protected or above the law and the actions taken to keep this quiet. What about the ones above them who continue to protect that sacred area allowing in my opinion quite a bit to much of that protection for police officers and the political public sector. Probably because of their stats the opportunities to get away with their actions and be paid a hansom fee when caught doing so.
One that comes to mind right now is the former Commissioner of the RCMP who was asked to resign for destroying someone’s life, where this man was paid over 10 million beleagured tax Canadian dollars to try and fix this mess the Commissioner created when this man was deported and torchered.
Has the former Commissioner ever been charged?
Where is he working right now (Interpole)?
What penalty did he receive for his part in these messes he has been named in that go back as far as New Brunswick?
Now what do we do with the farmer (hang him) when our leaders and protectors get nothing for their crimes when they act allot worst?
Some have died and nothing will come of it at least he didn’t kill anyone.
Not like that one who broke into the drug store out west and was shot in the socker field with his hands up or the one who was shot in the back of the head after being arested at an arena for giving a faltz name and joking.
Nobody was charged here to my knowledge and I wonder what happen to those two cases and arresting officers?
I’m glad editor you finally excepted to post this article and didn’t deny the many readers request to post it.
This kind of stuff needs to be here to show us all how unfair thing have become and how the justice system and their two teared system (the Criminal Code of Canada) is being handled, decided, used and implimented in the field.
In my opinion we need to see some major changes before this mess is fixed this time….
Thank You!
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I’ve been asked by several to include this story on RCMPWatch.com. And so I’m including it here for comment.
However it should be remembered that, in this case, the RCMP were doing their job, that is to enforce the laws that were passed by Parliament.