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EDMONTON -- A former city cop who resigned in disgrace after running a red light and seriously injuring a man in a fiery crash has admitted he unsafely stored his loaded police gun.
(Douglas) Kurtis Brown, 31, yesterday pleaded guilty in provincial court to careless use of a firearm.
Crown prosecutor Kerry Hart said Brown was suspended from active duty after being charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm relating to a May 11, 2008, collision on 75 Street, near the Whitemud Drive exit ramp.
Later that day, following the 2 a.m. crash, officers went to Brown's Mill Woods home to have him turn over his police-issued handgun, a Glock Model 22 40-calibre pistol.
Brown led the officers to the basement of the home where they found his EPS duty belt draped over a couch in one of the rooms, said Hart. Inside some pouches on the belt, officers located two 15-round magazines loaded with 40-calibre ammunition.
After the belt was turned over, officers were taken to a nearby room where Brown retrieved his Glock from a duffel bag, said Hart.
The pistol was loaded with a magazine containing 14 rounds and had one round already in the firing chamber and court heard the firearm was not secured in any way.
Brown ejected the magazine and the round in the chamber and handed the gun over without incident.
Brown did not appear in court yesterday, but he was ordered to be present for a Sept. 11 sentencing hearing.
On July 3, Brown was fined $18,400 on his earlier convictions for dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
At the time, Judge Michael Allen noted Brown's "courageous" actions in pulling his trapped victim from his burning pickup truck and said jail was not required.
In April, Allen found Brown guilty of four counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm after ruling Brown went through a red light driving in excess of 70 km/h.
Court heard Brown, a constable for three years who was off-duty at the time of the crash, was returning to his home with his girlfriend and their two other roommates after a birthday party at a downtown nightclub.
The impact forced Robert Wasyliw's truck to flip -- trapping the then 18 year old beneath the burning vehicle.
Brown had also been accused of impaired driving, but Allen earlier dismissed those charges after ruling the two breath samples provided by Brown would be excluded from evidence due to a breach of his charter rights.
TONY.BLAIS@SUNMEDIA.CA