A Prince George woman says an RCMP officer could have handled things better when she saw him make an arrest and went over the ask him why.
Cathy Fortin said she was out delivering meals to the housebound on Monday when she saw an RCMP cruiser pull onto the sidewalk on Upland Street near Milburn Avenue and stop an Indigenous man.
Fortin, who was driving, said she went on to make a couple of deliveries and then returned to the spot to see what was going on. She said the officer was still talking to the man while other people had to cross the street because the sidewalk was still blocked.
She drove by and then made a second pass. This time, Fortin saw the officer put the man in the back of the cruiser. At that point, Fortin said she parked her car across the street and walked over to ask why the arrest was being made and where the man was being taken.
Fortin said the response she got was not what she expected.
"It was just 'get back in your car!,'" Fortin said.
When Fortin then tried to talk to the arrestee - the cruiser's window was down - she said the officer grabbed a fistful of her jacket and her left arm, pushed her towards her car and threatened to arrest her.
Fortin said she backed off because she still had meals to deliver although she admitted to yelling some obscenities at the officer. "I turned into a different person," she said.
As for the arrestee, Fortin said the man just shook his head when she asked him why he was being taken in. Fortin said she was curious because she is "always on the side of the downtrodden."
"These poor native people, I have a great empathy for the native people," Fortin said. "I used to be a cab driver and I've dealt with them on various levels. I used to be a forest tech and for a couple of summers I taught these native guys from Stoney Creek and through the Native Friendship Centre how to use saws and giving them forestry skills and stuff.
"I know them on various levels and I've always felt bad about bad about the way society treats them and to see this guy, totally harmless, getting picked on like that, got to me."
Fortin made no mention of the arrestee being physically harmed.
Had the officer just answered her question, Fortin said she would have just carried on.
"That would've been the civil thing to do," Fortin said. "I mean, I wasn't threatening."
In a response, Prince George RCMP Cst. Jennifer Cooper said the officer was simply doing his job.
"I can tell you that the officer was acting lawfully in the execution of his duties," Cooper said.
As for Fortin, Cooper said she "is incorrect in assuming that she had any right to the know the reason that person was under arrest, as that violates the subject’s right to privacy."
If Fortin had thought there was anything amiss with how the officer was acting, Cooper said she can file a complaint. Venues include the RCMP Public Complaints Commission and, in the case of events in which a civilian is seriously injured or killed in a police action, the Independent Investigations Office.
Fortin said she won't be filing a formal complaint.
