CITY HALL – Mayor files police complaint alleging assault by journalist
Reid Hamer-Jackson (Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has filed an assault complaint against a local online journalist after an incident in a local bar Saturday night.
The mayor said he and a friend went to Bailey’s pub following a North Paws game and he noticed as they entered that Castanet newsroom employee Tim Petruk was there.
He told ArmchairMayor.ca that he later felt someone “hit” him on the back, followed by Petruk telling him to “have a good night” as he passed by. The contact was not friendly, he said, but Petruk denies there was an assault.
Hamer-Jackson acknowledged he and Petruk haven’t been on good terms over the way Castanet has covered the mayor. Petruk has privately called Hamer-Jackson “an idiot” in the past.
Kamloops RCMP, citing privacy legislation, confirmed they’ve been asked to investigate an alleged assault but refused to name who was involved.
“Kamloops RCMP received a report of an assault on the morning of June 29,” Cst. Sofie Winkels said in a statement to AM regarding the file number of the complaint. “The alleged assault had taken place the evening prior around 10 p.m. The matter is currently under investigation.”
Petruk said the claim of assault is “baseless.”
“I patted the mayor on the shoulder while saying goodbye,” he said. “I’m sure the pub has cameras showing exactly what happened.
“I have not heard anything from the police, only from reporters the mayor has been tipping off. Let’s call this what it is — the mayor is trying to use the city’s police to harass a journalist following coverage critical of his actions.”
Petruk said the assault complaint will be shown to be “another waste of taxpayer resources.”
ArmchairMayor.ca 
As of 06:25 this morning, July 3/25, there doesn’t appear to have been any coverage of this incident on Castanet Kamloops. CFJC, Armchair Mayor and Infonews Kamloops all have articles about the alleged incident.
Does it seem that Castanet Kamloops has almost immediate coverage of “Mayor-related stuff” on so many other occasions but not a printed word about the alleged assault? Is this an incident that shows biased journalism?
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the predominantly garbage local media and the people behind it don’t get any of my sympathy and that he refuses to kiss arses and gives McCorkell a hard time is good enough to get my vote next time around.
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I’ll vote for him again if he can get rid of McCorkell. He’s sure pissed away his chance so far though.
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of course the same few chirpers are all Team Victim once again. Wake up.
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when this guy can’t go out in public without a police file being opened, is it really everyone else out to get him? all the sycophants in this thread should think about that.
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If the mayor were a woman, would Petruk have put his hands on her? If the answer is no, then it’s assault.
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Well written. Yes, try to imagine if the recipient had been one of the female Councillors. Talk about “crossing personal boundaries”.
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lol. Would Tim pat a female on the back, yeah, probably. normal people do that. take a seat drama llama.
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Police investigation outcome: the only injury is a bruised ego.
Reporting back, RCMP suggest the only potential remedy is a civil suit.
Taxpayers surveyed indicate that there is nothing civil going on here.
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So a person with a history of adversarial relations with the Mayor, an unbiased journalist calling the Mayor an “idiot”, all of a sudden decides to give the Mayor a friendly pat on the back?
Such a plausible explanation.
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If the “google search” is correct, assault is covered in section 265 of the Criminal Code.
Was there consent by Reid for Mr. Petruk to intentionally apply force to Reid?
I hope there is (security) video that captured the event and the RCMP gain access to the video.
Maybe reporter Holliday will have her version of events on Castanet as soon as possible.
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Oh My God … what is he doing.
Someone close to him has to sit him down
and tell him to calm down and stop reacting to everything.
A journalist he doesn’t like, who in the past said “mean things” about him, who obviously has “Hamer-Jackson derangement syndrome”, is now subject to police questioning and intervention and whatever else his nibs thinks he has the power to do, therefore the right to do, and throw it all to the journalist for no other reason than to protect his ego …
… sound like anyone else we know?
If he has always been like this, then we shouldn’t have hired him … and if the job made him this way, he needs to be told by someone he will listen to, to either snap out of it and calm down, or stop doing the job.
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