Winnipeg seniors claim they were issued a ticket for non-existent cellphone

At age 74, Winnipeg resident Laszlo Piszker had always gotten by without a cellphone, and he had no plans to change that either.

So when he and his wife got pulled over by police after lunch, the retired machinist was surprised to hear the reason.

"I (said) to him, 'What's the matter?' He says, 'We've been seeing you on the phone,'" Piszker told CTV Winnipeg. "I said, 'Don't try to kid me… I don't even have a (cellphone)."

According to the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act, using a hand-operated electronic device while driving is prohibited. That's provided, however, that there's a hand-operated electronic device in the vehicle.

Not so much for the Piszkers. No cellphone, no Internet, not even an answering machine for the technology-averse couple, who urged the officers to search their car for evidence of a phone.

Piszker said while the officers weren't particularly interested in a search, they appeared very interested in handing him a ticket for $199.80.

But when they offered him the pricy printout, Piszker initially refused to take it. That's when the situation escalated. He said an officer threatened to arrest him if he didn't accept the ticket.

Piszker's wife, Margaret, 72, later told the Winnipeg Free Press that police had made room in the cell for her, too.

"I was trying to tell the officer that Laszlo just doesn't have a phone and the other officer just starts yelling at me. 'Shut up,' he says. 'Get back in the car or I'll arrest you too,' she recalled to the paper.

"He was nasty. That's when I told Laszlo to just take the ticket."

The Piszkers said they believe they were victims of a police ticket quota and plan to fight the charge in court. If necessary, they will call in lifelong friends to testify the couple has never owned a cellphone.

After the Free Press ran their story about the Piszkers, the paper said they received a deluge of commentary and messages of outrage, much of which centred around what locals believe to be a concerted campaign by city police to target drivers.

Businessman Rick McKenzie told the paper he received a similar ticket last fall even though his cellphone's dead battery was clearly lying in view on the passenger seat.

"I told the officer I couldn't have been using my cellphone because the battery is dead," McKenzie said. "It's unbelievable. "What they did to (Laszlo Piszker) is just ridiculous."

Several months ago, a pair of non-profit groups teamed up to protest a photo radar speed trap at a Winnipeg intersection that they allege was issuing faulty tickets.

Asked about the incident at their Monday morning press conference, police declined to comment.

"I'm not going to be able to comment specifically on that case or any cases that are before the courts," Const. Natalie Aitken, spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Police Service, said.

Margaret, on the other hand, was more forthcoming about the couple's plans.

"It's been a terrible day, but it's something we had to do," she said. "You have to stand up for your rights, don't you?"