RCMP Watch

Keith Fraser (Vancouver Province) - A Maple Ridge man is suing the owner of a horse and a Mountie after he suffered serious injuries when his motorcycle struck the animal in the middle of the Lougheed Highway in Deroche last July.

Jeffery Matthew McNair says in a statement of claim that the horse owner, Teresa Kelly, owed a duty of care to ensure that the horse would not roam on the highway.

Kelly’s negligence included failing to fence or maintain a fence in reasonable repair along the perimeter of the property, he says.

McNair says a Mission RCMP officer, Const. David Ewert, drove along the same stretch of road 20 minutes before his accident and nearly struck three or four horses running loose.

The officer owed a duty of care to ensure that the highway was free of hazards or potential hazards, he says.
The accident happened at about 2:45 a.m.

McNair was wearing a full leather jacket, pants and gloves and a full face helmet at the time. He suffered a brain injury and injuries to both wrists, both arms, his jaw, ribs, left leg and both hips requiring multiple surgeries.

He also suffered permanent scarring and disfigurement. The horse was killed. McNair, who declined to comment beyond what’s in the writ, is seeking general and special damages.

Kelly blamed horses owned by a neighbour that she said had broken through a fence into her property and chased her horse across the highway. “I was devastated because that day my horse died,” she said.

The Mission detachment said it had not been served with the lawsuit and had no comment.