Woman sues province, city for wrongful arrest, 'cruel and unusual' treatment
A Winnipeg woman is suing the province, the city and a provincial attorney after she says she was wrongfully arrested and subjected to "cruel and unusual" treatment in a bungled child abandonment case she says cost her custody of her kids.
The woman is claiming damages and a declaration from the defendants that she was wrongfully imprisoned and detained, and that her charter rights were violated in the process.
Her statement of claim, which was filed to the Court of Queen's Bench on Nov. 29, alleges she was detained for more than a day without food or a lawyer despite repeatedly asking for both.
According to that document, the woman was eating dinner with her mother and infant son at Boogie's Diner in Winnipeg on Dec. 1, 2014. After the meal, she left her son in the care of her mother and went to the bar portion of the restaurant alone.
After parting ways with the plaintiff, the grandmother brought the child to her vehicle and left him there for about five minutes when she went back inside to order French fries for him, the statement says.
During that time, somebody saw the child alone in the vehicle and called police to report that he had been abandoned.
Detained for 24 hours without food or lawyer
That's when five Winnipeg Police Service cruisers showed up at the diner, went into the bar and arrested the plaintiff — not the grandmother — for child abandonment, she alleges, and called her a "piece of s---."
The statement also says the grandmother told police at the scene that she herself was "solely responsible" for leaving the boy in the vehicle.
The mother alleges she was then detained for more than 24 hours "without any credible evidence that she had committed any offence known to law."
During that time, she says she made "repeated requests" for food and to use a telephone to contact a lawyer, but police refused. Instead, she says they demanded she make a statement without access to counsel, which is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In the days that followed, the grandmother gave a statement on videotape taking responsibility for the abandonment and the Crown secured videotape evidence from the diner showing she was not at the scene at the time, the statement alleges.
But for more than nine months afterward, a Crown prosecutor continued to prosecute the case until staying charges on Sept. 11, 2015.
Custody of children revoked
As a result of the arrest, the plaintiff says she lost custody of her two children and is now forbidden from having unsupervised contact with them.
"As a result of the wrongful arrest and detention and malicious prosecution, she has suffered from post-traumatic stress and has been required to obtain medical treatment to deal with her depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness and post-traumatic stress," the statement reads.
A spokeswoman for Manitoba Justice responded to a CBC request for comment on the case.
"The province was recently served on this matter and is now reviewing the statement of claim to determine next steps," she wrote in an email.
"Since this is before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
The City of Winnipeg did not respond to a CBC request for comment.
