Officer who dragged fallen B.C. Mountie to elevator testifies at Nicholas Bellemare murder trial

Family and friends of Const. Rick O’Brien packed the court room as first responders who rushed to try to save the officer’s life took the stand.

COQUITLAM, B.C. — The RCMP officer who pulled Const. Rick O’Brien from a Coquitlam apartment after he was fatally shot while executing a search warrant took the stand Thursday at the murder trial of Nicholas Bellemare.

Const. Lorin Weight told the B.C. Supreme Court he was among several officers called in for backup after gunfire erupted inside a 22nd-floor unit of a Glen Drive high rise in September 2023.

When the elevator doors opened, Weight said he saw a woman struggling with a man in his underwear, later identified as Bellemare. He told the court he directed another Mountie to handle the altercation.

He said he realized soon after that the woman was a plain-clothed officer.

Weight said he and two other officers then entered the apartment where O’Brien and other officers had come under fire, searching for any remaining suspects.

After clearing the suite, Weight said he found O’Brien lying on his back in a pool of blood.“He was still warm, but I didn’t feel a pulse,” he testified, adding he believed the officer was already dead.

Weight said he dragged O’Brien to the elevator and down to the ground floor, where he saw the extent of the gunshot wounds to the officer’s face. Despite life-saving efforts by first responders, O’Brien was later pronounced dead in an ambulance outside the building.

Bellemare, who was 24 at the time, was also shot during the exchange of gunfire.

Paramedic Aaron Hersog, who treated and transported Bellemare, also testified Thursday. He told the court the accused appeared nervous but did not seem intoxicated or suffering from a mental health crisis.

Bellemare is being tried by judge alone on a charge of first-degree murder. Although the shooting was not believed to be premeditated, under the Criminal Code of Canada, the killing of a police officer in the line of duty is automatically deemed first-degree murder.

The trial is expected to continue until mid-December. Two other officers injured during the raid have not yet testified.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Ben Miljure