At trial Mr. Maxie testified that he heard someone say he was “going to get his gun” and then saw that person run towards a house. When Mr. Maxie heard the word “gun” he moved quickly to the driver’s side of his truck. He testified he did so because he did not know where the gun was. He opened the driver’s door and without telling a passenger what was going on he told her to push over. He got behind the wheel and started the truck. He heard a gunshot. He stepped on the accelerator and was looking in the rear view mirror to see where the shooter was, while driving straight ahead over the lawn. Almost immediately he felt a bump and heard a “bumph” sound as if something had hit the side of the vehicle. He did not stop, but continued straight ahead to the road. He pulled over about a kilometre away when he “saw a cop car coming”. A later breathalyzer test resulted in readings of .19 and .18, respectively. (The "bumph" turned out to be the sound of him striking a pedestrian who spent 2 days in the hospital). Mr. Maxie was acquitted at trial and that acquittal was upheld:
1. He was in a situation of imminent peril. 2. There was no reasonable legal alternative to the course of action taken by Mr. Maxie 3. The harm avoided, that is someone being shot and possibly killed, was greater than the actual harm inflicted (being the injury to the pedestrian's left leg). R. v. Maxie, 2014 SKCA 103