Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson at a news conference on July 15, 2024.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The mayor of Kamloops now says the journalist who patted his shoulder at a bar made an "error in judgement" after a police investigation tossed any suspicion of an assault.

It comes after Mounties announced Castanet Kamloops editor Tim Petruk made "unwanted contact" with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson but there were no grounds for a criminal charge.

In an Aug. 14 phone interview with iNFOnews.ca, Hamer-Jackson was using a speaker phone while he was with a local auto shop owner.

"I don't want a guy with a young family to have an assault charge over his head just because he made an error in judgment," Hamer-Jackson told iNFOnews.ca.

The other man agreed he would do the same when Hamer-Jackson asked, "What would you do if an enemy of yours walked by and hit you on the shoulder?"

When asked by iNFOnews.ca whether he still considers Petruk an enemy, Hamer-Jackson first attempted to deny he used the term saying he would use another descriptor.

"I'll correct that. I'll call him a biased journalist," Hamer-Jackson said. "I think I probably shouldn't have used that word, but make that the headline, would you? And make sure I apologize."

Hamer-Jackson didn't articulate an apology.

The assault complaint was filed after the mayor and Petruk crossed paths on June 29 at Bailey's Pub in the city, a bar Hamer-Jackson is known to frequent, but they didn't speak for most of the evening.

Before leaving, Petruk patted him on the back of the shoulder and said "have a nice night."

At some point later, Hamer-Jackson called the Kamloops RCMP non-emergency line to report the incident, later giving a statement to an investigator.

Petruk said he wasn't surprised the investigation went nowhere and is putting the incident behind him, but he suggested the complaint was not about the mayor's assault claim at all.

"The mayor’s blatant attempts to use the police and the courts as weapons are not only petty, they are also taking money out of the pockets of Kamloops taxpayers. Our newsroom has given the mayor a fair shake throughout his term, at times despite his best efforts, and that will not change," he said in a written statement.

Hamer-Jackson said he respects the Kamloops RCMP conclusion and said he was happy with Supt. Jeff Pelley's statement suggesting people "respect personal boundaries."

Some questions he left unanswered, or answered them differently from what he told iNFOnews.ca last month.

Though Hamer-Jackson now describes the back pat as an "error in judgement," he wouldn't answer when asked when he decided the back pat was simply an "error" as opposed to a criminal offence.

He said he described to police he was hit on the back, but he "didn't file an assault charge." Again, he had no response when asked what other criminal charge would have applied.

Back on July 2 following the Bailey's Pub incident, he was more explicit about the back pat.

"If I go a place and I'm meeting with somebody and 10 people walk up behind me and slap me in the back and say 'have a good night,' or whack me in the back or hit me in the back, is that good? Is that fine? It's called a simple assault, at least," he said.

At that time, he went on to take issue with Petruk's opinion writing and his newsroom's coverage of him, again describing it as an assault.

"He's insulted me for two and a half years, so I guess he thought it was OK to assault me," Hamer-Jackson said.

On Aug. 13, RCMP said investigators conducted "a thorough investigation" including witness accounts and a review of surveillance footage from the bar.

The pub back slap was one of at least five complaints Hamer-Jackson has filed with Kamloops RCMP since he was elected.

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