Calgary city councillor Gian-Carlo Carra is facing a criminal charge related to an April 2022 dispute.
Carra confirmed to LWC that he was charged Friday evening. He was notified Thursday of the charge, he said. He faces a mischief charge in relation to those events.
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) confirmed the charge Saturday.
They said they were originally asked in April to conduct the investigation. It was assigned to a detective in the Investigative Response Section. Following the investigation, it was reviewed by the Legal Advisors Section of EPS and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, their response read.
“On Dec. 9, 2022, Mr. Carra was criminally charged with mischief under $5000 relating to the incident that occurred on April 2, 2022,” EPS wrote in an email response.
The Ward 9 councillor had previously described a dispute that involved an alleged physical assault. He said that a driver had run a stop sign trapping his dog underneath a vehicle.
The incident escalated from there, to the point he felt he had to defend himself, according to his account.
Carra, who was sitting on the Calgary Police Commission at the time, stepped back from that position while the investigation was ongoing.
On Nov. 1, Carra submitted his formal resignation from the police commission. He said at that time that it was an unprecedented amount of time for this kind of investigation.
When reached by phone Saturday, Carra said he was shocked to be charged.
“I intend to fight this, and I will have a much more comprehensive statement as soon as we are privy to disclosure, FOIP and all of those things,” he said.
