LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — An Alberta judge has found a vacuum truck driver guilty of dangerous driving but acquitted him of assault with a weapon after he accelerated through an RCMP checkpoint near Milk River during the 2022 Coutts border protests.
James Edward Sowery was charged after driving his large hydrovac truck northbound through Checkpoint 14 on Feb. 14, 2022, without stopping. In a decision released Nov. 3, Court of King’s Bench Justice M.R. Gaston found Sowery guilty of dangerous driving under s. 320.13(1) of the Criminal Code but not guilty of assault with a weapon under s. 267(a).
The checkpoint, set up just south of Milk River about 20 kilometres north of Coutts, was staffed by RCMP officers with a marked police vehicle and pylons directing traffic through a single lane. The court heard Sowery had been stopped on the highway shoulder several hundred metres from the checkpoint for up to 20 minutes before accelerating toward it.
Three officers testified they heard the truck’s engine grow louder and saw no sign of slowing as it approached. The truck passed close to Const. Cory Kornicki, who fled toward the median, and struck at least one traffic pylon near his police vehicle before Const. Christopher Kirby pursued and stopped it about a kilometre north.
“In contrast, and in a marked departure from reasonably prudent conduct, not only did Mr. Sowery not slow or stop when approaching the checkpoint, but he accelerated when approaching and proceeding through the checkpoint,” Gaston wrote.
The judge found the truck’s steering, brakes and gears functioned normally and noted Sowery told officers after his arrest that he had become overwhelmed, knew he should have stopped and should not have struck the pylon.
On the assault charge, however, Gaston found the evidence left a reasonable doubt about Sowery’s intent. While Kornicki testified he believed he saw the truck “veer” toward him, the judge noted the officer could not recall giving a stop gesture, and both Cpl. Terra Lisson and Const. Kirby had their views of Kornicki obstructed by his police vehicle. Chief Supt. Gordon Corbett’s view was also blocked by the truck itself.
“Proof that Mr. Sowery intentionally drove through the checkpoint does not, without more, prove that he intentionally threatened or intimidated the officer,” Gaston wrote, adding that the evidence reasonably permitted the conclusion Sowery intended to flout the checkpoint without intending to strike or threaten anyone.
The trial was a retrial, with the original proceeding having gone before a jury in March 2023. The evidentiary portion was heard in October 2025, with final argument in August 2026. Sowery did not testify.
A date for sentencing on the dangerous driving conviction has not yet been set.
