Crown drops charges against man accused of tampering with Outer Battery floodlight

CBC
·1 min read
The lights on Colin Way's property in the Outer Battery were turned off on Jan. 26, after months of shining non-stop. The situation drew national attention and sparked one person to try to take them down. (Mark Quinn/CBC - image credit)
The lights on Colin Way's property in the Outer Battery were turned off on Jan. 26, after months of shining non-stop. The situation drew national attention and sparked one person to try to take them down. (Mark Quinn/CBC - image credit)

There will be no punishment for a 32-year-old man accused of trying to take down a floodlight that stirred controversy in St. John's earlier this year.

James Drover had his charges of trespassing and mischief dropped in provincial court on Tuesday, as first reported by the St. John's Telegram. Drover confirmed the charges were dropped in a message to CBC News.

He'd previously told CBC News that he tried to move the bright light affixed to a property in the historic Outer Battery neighbourhood, but couldn't budge it. Crown prosecutor Mike Murray said surveillance footage from the incident showed Drover hanging off the light, but in the end, it continued to shine.

Murray told the court there were no reasonable grounds for conviction.

The light belonged to Outer Battery resident Colin Way, who himself had been charged with mischief for shining the light onto the property of his neighbours. The story made national headlines when Way refused to take down the light, and the City of St. John's stated there was nothing in its bylaws to resolve the situation.

That led to some people on social media calling for a vigilante approach. Drover was arrested in the early hours of Jan. 20. In a Facebook post, he said the arresting officer shook his hand and called him Batman.

The situation finally cooled down on Jan. 26, when Way voluntarily turned out the lights. They haven't been turned back on since.

While Drover won't have to worry about court anymore, Way is still on the docket. His next appearance is scheduled for April 6.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

Latest Stories

  • Pregnant woman 'pushed to her death off Arthur's Seat' had code word if she was in danger, court told

    A pregnant woman allegedly pushed to her death off Arthur's Seat by her husband had set up a code word to text her mother if she felt in danger, a court has heard. Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from the Edinburgh landmark. Mrs Javed's mother, Nighat Yasmin Javed, told Edinburgh's High Court on Thursday that she had been "very worried" about her daughter because of alleged "violence" from Anwar.

  • The jail where 18 female employees had relationships with prisoners

    Eighteen female staff at a jail which has pioneered a liberal approach have had relationships with prisoners since it opened, data obtained under Freedom of Information laws has revealed.

  • Convicted Killer Freed by Wagner Goes Home and Kills Again

    ReutersA convicted killer sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison in Russia got the break of his life when the notorious Wagner Group began recruiting inmates for the war against Ukraine last year—and now free, he’s murdered someone again.Ivan Rossomakhin, 28, is accused of another murder in his native village in the Kirov region less than three years after he was ordered to spend more than a decade behind bars, MediaZona reports. During that time, he managed to avail himself of Wagne

  • Remains found in storage shed identified as former police chief, Illinois cops say

    A woman had previously been arrested in the police chief’s death.

  • Prince Harry privacy claim 'rejected in its entirety', Daily Mail publisher tells High Court

    Prince Harry's privacy case should be thrown out by a judge, lawyers for the publisher of the Daily Mail have told the High Court, saying the claim has been brought "far too late" and is rejected "in its entirety". Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) says legal challenges brought by a number of high-profile individuals - including Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, as well as the Duke of Sussex - have "no real prospects of succeeding" at a trial. Following a dramatic second day which saw witness statements released at the end of the proceedings - in which Harry alleged that journalists at ANL "are criminals with journalistic powers which should concern every single one of us", and said the Royal Family had withheld information from him about phone hacking - the third day in court was less revelatory.

  • Heroic headteacher ended Zoom call and ran towards shooter during Nashville school massacre

    Katherine Koonce, 60, was found in a hallway by herself where police say she was ‘assassinated’ by shooter

  • 2 Ohio Women on Birthday Trip in New Mexico Are Missing After Checking Out of Their Hotel

    Friends Robyn Renee Bodine and Tracie Shoe "were supposed to be" heading back to the airport, but never made it onto their flight, nor was their rental car returned, police said

  • Manhattan DA lawyers feared Stormy Daniels case against Trump was too weak to bring without other criminal charges, report says

    Three lawyers who worked on District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation into former President Donald Trump spoke to the Daily Beast about the case.

  • Quebec police conduct anti-drug trafficking raids targeting Hells Angels, Mafia

    MONTREAL — Several police forces across Quebec are participating in joint anti-drug trafficking raids across the province targeting members of the Hells Angels and the Mafia. Police say they are conducting eight operations, including in Montreal, Laval and Estérel, in Quebec's Laurentians region. Provincial police Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau wouldn't say whose residences are being searched but said they involved important figures in the province's organized crime world. The raids are being conduct

  • Grandmother charged after two grandchildren die in her care less than a year apart

    ‘As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it. I will fight for them’

  • Head teacher 'headed straight for shooter' during Nashville school massacre

    The head teacher gunned down at a Christian primary school in Nashville headed "straight for the shooter" to protect her pupils, it emerged, as vigils were held across the city.

  • B.C. RCMP make arrests at pipeline protest site following alleged 'swarming incidents'

    Five people were arrested at a camp on traditional Wet'suwet'en territory in northwestern B.C. on Wednesday. Sleydo', a spokesperson for the Gidimt'en checkpoint, said Mounties in multiple police vehicles arrived at the checkpoint around 10:30 a.m. PT, though she was not on site when it happened. "They immediately began arresting people, as far as we know," Sleydo', also known as Molly Wickham, said in an interview with CBC News. According to a statement from Yintah Access, five people, most of

  • They were turned away at the Canadian border. Now what?

    Toddlers ran through aisles filled with snacks and candies. Adults slumped in chairs. Multiple cellphones were plugged into a single wall socket. Backpacks and suitcases were scattered among the two rows of tables in a corner of this small-town bus stop and gas station. After they were turned away at the Canadian border and spent three days in detention, the roughly 15 asylum seekers at the Mountain Mart No. 109 in the town of Plattsburgh, N.Y., south of Montreal, on Tuesday afternoon were tryin

  • Please stop asking me to address gun violence, I'm busy banning books

    Hello, I’m a Republican lawmaker, and while I’m heartbroken over The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, please stop asking me to do something.

  • Harry and Meghan worked one hour a week for Archewell

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s charity received $13 million from two anonymous philanthropists in its first year of operation, tax records have revealed.

  • 9-month conditional sentence for woman who drained, then repaid, Bunyan's Cove bank accounts

    Stephanie Chatman fought back tears in Clarenville's provincial courtroom Wednesday, as she apologized to the court and her community for the fraud she committed. Chatman pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery, and admitted that she wrote 16 cheques over an 18-month period between 2017 and 2018, draining the Bunyan's Cove local service district of $98,640. "It's not something that I've ever done before, it's not something that I would ever do again," she said. "I'm just so sorry for everything." Ch

  • Michael Cohen says he believes Trump 'is petrified' after being indicted in New York

    Cohen said in a statement that "no one is above the law" and later told MSNBC he believes Trump is "petrified."

  • ‘Trans day of vengeance’ protest to hit Washington in wake of Nashville shooting

    Twitter is banning images of a poster for a “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally amid fears it is inciting “violence” in the wake of a mass shooting in Nashville.

  • Gatineau police arrest 6 alleged pedophile hunters

    Police in Gatineau, Que., say they've arrested six suspects accused of "hunting" people they thought were pedophiles in recent months. While the Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau offered few details in a French-language news release Thursday, similar movements have seen people create fake online profiles to catch the interest of a target, lure them to a meeting, record the ensuing confrontation and post videos online to publicly shame the suspected predators. Gatineau police issued a new

  • ‘Foxhunting’ police officer ‘removed’ from rural crime team

    Police with links to foxhunting have been banned from a rural crime team after an officer posted a picture of herself riding with a hunt.