Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum claims he was “run over” by a car and “verbally assaulted” while grocery shopping Saturday, adding he called police and an investigation is underway.
McCallum provided no other details of the incident via City of Surrey spokesperson Amber Stowe on Sunday.
However, McCallum also had an apparent interaction with political opponents with the Keep the RCMP in Surrey campaign at a Save-on Foods in South Surrey, which appears to be linked to McCallum’s claims.
Based on social media posts from campaign members, such as coordinator Ivan Scott, McCallum confronted the group, which had been collecting signatures for a petition to call a referendum on the municipal police transition, from Surrey RCMP to Surrey Police Service.
The group alleges McCallum threatened bylaw officers against them for popping up a signature tent. The group claims they had permission to be outside the store, which is on private property.
An anonymous Twitter account posted a photo of Scott and McCallum talking to one another. The message states McCallum claimed his toe had been run over by someone associated with the group.
This is not the first incident in which McCallum has had to deal with Surrey RCMP, the very organization he is trying to dismantle. Last year he was in a car accident and in 2019 he was also involved in a dispute at Coun. Allison Patton’s naturopath office.
Keep the RCMP in Surrey members, particularly Scott, and McCallum have had a tumultuous public relationship, as Scott routinely phones into council meetings only to be cut off by McCallum for not staying on the agenda’s topic.
The group is hoping the petition gains enough signatures for the provincial government to call a local referendum on the transition, which is now well underway but is facing significant delays and questions over transparency and cost uncertainty.
Keep the RCMP in Surrey recently filed a complaint against Surrey Police Service with the BC Office of Information Privacy Commission after it was discovered in a freedom of information response that Chief Norm Lipinski was using a private email address to conduct police business.
The complaint followed a legal threat by the service against the group for publicizing the response that contained the email.
