Letter: Squabble With Cop

I would like to let everyone know how I was treated by an RCMP officer on Thursday, April 1st (and no, this isn’t an april fool’s joke).

Finding myself a little early for work Thursday morning, I decided to stop for some breakfast at the McDonald’s in Glenmore. This happens to be directly beside a Tim Horton’s. Doughnut jokes aside, there happens to be one empty parking space next to an RCMP vehicle which is parked slightly over the parking line, making it a tight fit.

I leave my vehicle running while I go in to get my food, and to my surprise upon exiting the restaurant, I see my vehicle backing up. Thinking that someone is attempting to steal it, I walk toward it, and the driver, apparently seeing me in the side-view mirror, parks back into the space. To my surprise, the man that steps out is an RCMP officer.

I’ll try to keep the following record of our dialog as accurate as possible. Somewhat appalled, and seeking an explanation, I inform the officer “Hello, this is my vehicle”, to which he replies “Well you have to leave me space to get out”.

Finding this answer both inadequate and rude, given the strange circumstances, I point out the fact that he is actually the one incorrectly parked over the line. Slightly angered by the lack of apology, I ask him “What gives you the right to enter and drive my vehicle?” and the officer shoots back “you shouldn't’t have left it running”.

I decide to match his cheekiness, and reply “So, if you leave your squad car running it’s alright for me to drive it?”. At this point, I am standing in front of him, and we are in between our two vehicles, somewhat cramped. The next part is what I never expected. Instead of a verbal reply, the officer decides to shove me out of the way, and walk toward his car door. I ask him for his name, and either ignoring or not hearing the question, the officer says “I have to go to an accident”, gets into his car and drives away.

I would have felt bad about holding him up, but the officer drives away slowly, and with no sirens or lights going, obviously not in a hurry. I took down the number on the side of his vehicle, as well as his license plate, but won’t post these details or the officer’s name here. I simply want people to know about the treatment I received.

-T.L.