Caledonia resident testifies he was ‘in panic mode’

November 16, 2009 Hamilton Spectator

Barbara Brown

Caledonia resident David Brown, whose family was trapped behind the barricades during the native occupation of Douglas Creek Estates in 2006, said he was too afraid to fall asleep for fear of what might happen to him and his family.

"I was in total panic every single day and it was worse at night," said Brown, who took the stand this morning at the civil trial where he is suing the Ontario government and the Ontario Provincial Police for $7 million in damages.

Brown told Superior Court Justice Thomas Bielby that his dog barked frantically through the night as native protesters trespassed on his property and shone spotlights on his home during perimeter checks of the occupied site.

Brown said he sat in his underwear on a kitchen chair in the dark with a shotgun between his legs, trying to stay awake to protect his family.

"I sat there one night, I was falling asleep, I was dozing off and my shotgun went off ... I just dozed off for a second," he said. "My hand slid down, hit the trigger and the gun went off. I blew a hole through my kitchen ceiling."

Brown said during the six weeks that Argyle Street was blocked off by several native and police barricades that he and his family were not free to come and go from their home without the permission of native protesters at the checkpoints.

Brown said the protesters would stop and search his vehicle, and in one instance confiscated a case of beer from his trunk.

"I looked right at the one (OPP) police officer and I said, 'Isn't this your job (to check the vehicle)?' and he turned around and looked the other way, pretending he didn't hear me. Maybe he was ashamed, I don't know," Brown said.