Kamloops mayor claims a journalist assaulted him. The journalist says it was a pat on the shoulder
Hamer-Jackson said the incident happened at Bailey's Pub Saturday night after the Kamloops NorthPaws baseball game, when he saw Tim Petruk, the news director for Castanet Kamloops.
"On his way out he decided he was going to hit me in the back and say, 'Have a good night,'" Hamer-Jackson said.
"And I'll tell you one thing I know about Tim Petruk — the last thing on his mind was we need to have a good night."
Petruk said no assault occurred.
"I patted the mayor on the shoulder while saying goodbye," he said in an emailed statement.
"I'm sure the pub has cameras showing exactly what happened."
Hamer-Jackson denied that the interaction could be seen as friendly pat.
"He walked up behind me; he whacked me in the back.… It would take a person of less than average intelligence to think in any way that it was a nice gesture," Hamer-Jackson said.
The mayor said Petruk has repeatedly published "biased" articles and op-eds against him and specifically criticized an opinion piece Petruk wrote in 2024, in which he described Hamer-Jackson's treatment of another Kamloops journalist as "bullying for all to see."
Petruk said the mayor is trying to use the police to "harass" a journalist after critical coverage. He added he hasn't heard from police, "only from reporters the mayor has been tipping off."
"This will no doubt prove to be another baseless allegation made by the mayor and another waste of taxpayer resources getting the police to investigate his petty grievances," Petruk said.
Hamer-Jackson has been no stranger to controversy since his 2022 election.
He filed a defamation suit against a fellow city councillor in 2023, and in 2024, eight councillors formally asked him to resign as mayor. Hamer-Jackson declined to do so.
Kamloops RCMP say Saturday's matter is currently under investigation.
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