Coutts protester guilty of assault at checkstop for driving truck at officer

A southern Alberta man charged with assaulting a police officer at a checkstop connected to the Coutts, Alta., border blockade was found guilty Thursday night after jurors deliberated for six hours.

James Sowery accelerated his hydrovac truck toward Const. Cory Kornicki, who had been conducting traffic stops along Highway 4, near Milk River — a town about 20 kilometres north of Coutts — on Feb. 14, 2022.

Sowery was convicted on both charges — assault with a weapon and dangerous driving. A sentencing hearing will take place at a later date.

The Coutts border blockade, which took place over two weeks last year, drew crowds protesting governments' pandemic-related restrictions and vaccine requirements.

Court of King's Bench Justice Glen Poelman thanked jurors for their service before dismissing them just before 10 p.m.

Earlier in the day, prosecutor Aaron Rankin and defence lawyer Olivia Manzer made final arguments after jurors heard two days of evidence, including testimony from Sowery and Kornicki.

During the trial, jurors heard that Const. Kornicki had to jump out of the way of Sowery's truck as it sped toward him. An orange pylon the officer had been standing beside was crushed.

Kornicki, who works in the RCMP's traffic unit, testified the truck was travelling at around 80 km/hour while Sowery estimated his speed at about 60 km/hour.

Officer left shaken

On Feb. 14, 2022, Sowery left the Coutts protest after five nights sleeping in his truck.

He came across the RCMP checkpoint near Milk River and pulled over to the side of the road.

Sowery testified he filled out his log book and then pulled back onto the highway. He said Kornicki got out of his police vehicle and waved at him. Sowery testified he believed the officer was saying "goodbye."

But Kornicki testified Sowery "swerved the vehicle towards me." A fellow officer testified Kornicki was "tearing up and visibly shaking."

Rankin argued Sowery was "passing needlessly, dangerously close" to Kornicki.

Afterward, when Sowery spotted police lights behind him, he pulled over, got out of his truck, dropped to his knees and put his hands in the air. 

"That's how you might act if you had just been violent toward police," Rankin argued.

'Tensions are high'

Minutes later, in the back of a police vehicle, Rankin said Sowery apologized and told the arresting officer "tensions are high."

"Common sense tells us what he meant," said Rankin. "He realized he had done something wrong and he explained it."

But Manzer, Sowery's defence lawyer, pointed out her client was "compliant and cooperative" when he was arrested and suggested that if he'd intended to harm the officer, he'd likely have been "agitated, upset, belligerent."

While in hindsight, it "may have been smarter" for Sowery to slow down, Manzer said his actions did not rise to the level of dangerous driving or assault with a weapon.

"It became very obvious to [Sowery] very quickly that he had misinterpreted Const. Kornicki's actions," said Manzer. 

Sowery is one of the first of more than a dozen people charged in connection with the border protests to go to trial. 

Four men accused of conspiracy to murder RCMP officers have a trial set to take place in June.