Allegations RCMP officer used excessive force could get super-prolific offender’s dangerous driving, flight from police case thrown out

Lawyer for Ian Gerald Mountain also questions Cpl. Keven Biagioni’s credibility as a Crown witness due to prior questionable incidents

February 24, 2026

Ian Gerald Mountain admits he fled from RCMP officers while driving dangerously one summer night in 2024, but he wants a provincial court judge to toss the case out because of what he claims happened after he was caught.

It was a clear, warm summer evening Aug. 31, 2024, when a Chilliwack resident caught a video of police cruisers in pursuit of a white SUV on Vedder Road. The video shared on social media showed the SUV speed around the corner of Vedder and Knight roads east on Knight and pulling into the gas station. A second video apparently showed the SUV go over the sidewalk to leave the gas station before being surrounded by RCMP vehicles and stopped.

What happened next is the subject of interest to Mountain’s defence counsel, to Crown counsel Susan Gill, and to the Chilliwack RCMP who are apparently conducting a review of one officer’s alleged use of force during the arrest. 

Mountain, who is in the category of super-prolific offender with 74 entries on court services online and dozens of convictions, was charged with dangerous operation, flight from police, driving while disqualified, impaired operation, and wilfully resisting arrest in connection with the year-and-a-half old incident.

Mountain was scheduled for a four-day trial to start in provincial court on Tuesday (Feb. 24, 2026) with two RCMP officers scheduled as witnesses waiting outside the courtroom. 

That trial is now off as defence lawyer Ashley Valleau said Mountain was prepared to plead guilty to two charges, but she asked the court for an adjournment to lay the foundation for an application under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms hoping to have the charges stayed.

Knowing that one of the arresting officers, Cpl. Keven Biagioni, is facing a professional responsibility investigation regarding allegations of use of force, Valleau told Judge Michael Fortino her team needed more information about those outstanding investigations.

“I can’t leave those stones unturned,” she said, adding that the Section 7 application is only part of it. Defence also apparently plans to question Biagioni’s credibility as a witness.

Valleau called the contents of a McNeil disclosure of “high relevance” to Mountain’s case. A McNeil disclosure refers to the Crown's obligation to disclose to defence information about misconduct or disciplinary records of police officers that are relevant to a particular case.

Valleau also discussed the need for an O’Connor hearing, which goes beyond a McNeil disclosure, and involves an accused seeking third-party records about a witness that they can then show to a judge are likely relevant to an issue at trial or to the competence of a witness. If the judge agrees the records are likely relevant, the second stage involves the judge alone seeing the materials to weigh the defence’s right to a full defence (under Section 7 of the Charter) with the privacy interests of the witness (under Section 8).

While the subject of that O’Connor hearing was not discussed in court on Tuesday, it’s hard to imagine defence isn’t after details of Cpl. Biagioni’s allegedly criminal behaviour in shooting a domestic violence suspect in 2021. That incident received considerable media attention when several officers were attempting to arrest a suspect in a parking lot near the Vedder River when on Jan. 12, 2021. Biagioni shot the man who was brandishing a barbecue skewer. The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) investigated, recommended charges, and Biagioni was criminally charged on Nov. 3, 2022 with discharging a firearm with intent, aggravated assault, and careless use of a firearm. 

Those charges were dropped after a five-day preliminary inquiry in 2024. 

Then there is the incident on Dec. 25, 2022, when Biagioni was involved in an off-duty altercation in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Luckakuck Way. Allegedly drunk, Biagioni got into a road rage incident crashing into the rear of a vehicle driven by a young couple. Biagioni was handed a 90-day roadside prohibition by fellow officers in what was later determined to be an improper impaired driving investigation that didn’t result in criminal charges.

If defence is successful in receiving the McNeil disclosure when available, and if he is successful in his O’Connor hearing to include past incidents that could question Biagioni’s credibility, Mountain could skate. There are, however, other RCMP witnesses to the dangerous driving.

Mountain pleaded guilty in front of Judge Fortino to the dangerous operation and flight from police, and he was released on bail with several restrictive conditions, including electronic monitoring. The guilty plea means there is no need for a trial, but now the various hearings, including a Charter application, mean defence will ask the judge for a stay of proceedings at some point.

The case was put over to March 3 to fix a next date.

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Paul J. Henderson
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