Editor:
Standing in solidarity with Hudson Brooks’ family (Our leaders haven’t reached out to me: mother, Feb. 24), I am coming out and saying I was carjacked 6½ years ago by the RCMP.
I had bought a car out-of-province because halfway through a trip I realized my old Subaru Justy wasn’t fit to make it back from the East Coast. So I purchased a used vehicle, transferred the plates to it, and I had 15 days to get back to B.C. and do the paperwork.
I was late coming back into town on the long trip and was further detained for close to an hour at the border – I had driven through the U.S. – as they checked out the car, papers, and me, crossing late at night.
Running late – I was heading directly to a night shift in a group home I worked at for Semiahmoo House Society – I drove briskly but was in complete control and there was no traffic on 16 Avenue at 1 a.m.
An RCMP officer was on a side street and observed me, gave chase, and pulled me over doing “about 80”.
He was ignorant of the rules of bringing the car in from out-of-province, and impounded the car on the spot, leaving me to literally walk, at 1:30 in the morning, with whatever I could carry, the remaining mile-and-a-half to work.
Calling the RCMP in the next days, everyone I spoke with insisted the officer was in the right. They were all, it seems, ignorant of the law as well.
Finally, it was revealed that the officer had indeed made a mistake, and at that point I was treated with essentially complete indifference. It was basically “Too bad, deal with it.”
No one apologized, no one offered to rectify the situation, no one offered to pay the towing and impound fees I had incurred.
The officer who was assigned as a mediator of sorts said he would call me back and assist me. He never did.
Though ‘carjacking’ may seem too strong a word, a man with a gun pulled me over, illegally took my car and money was demanded for its return. And nobody gave a damn about me in the aftermath. This literally changed my world, and I see the RCMP now, as, though not corrupt, per se, as compromised.
A system that cannot look at itself, that cannot apologize when it makes an obvious mistake and directly hurts one of its citizens, is not an intact system. It lacks integrity.
I recently watched a documentary on female U.S. military members who had been sexually abused while on duty, and they said that as bad as the abuse was, the subsequent treatment, the dismissal of their plight as nothing, was far, far worse. I stand in solidarity with Hudson Brooks’ family, and know my pain and betrayal at the hands of the RCMP is nothing compared to what they are going through.
I wish them the best and hope for a fair and impartial investigation, but I highly, highly doubt it will turn that way.
Zi Paris, Surrey
