Police erred in dealing with senior: witnesses
Woman was doing Tai Chi in Ottawa park
OTTAWA • Some local residents, including two people who witnessed the interaction, say that police went too far in their response to what turned out to be an elderly woman practising Tai Chi in an Ottawa park.
The incident occurred shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, after an unidentified caller phoned 911 to say that a woman was brandishing what he described as a 75-inch sword inside a fenced-in children's play area at the west end of Dundonald Park.
When police arrived at the park nine minutes later, they discovered the woman, a longtime fixture at Dundonald, with a collapsible, telescopic “device” commonly used for Tai Chi.
According to a letter written by interim police chief Steve Bell to Coun. Catherine Mckenney and members of the Ottawa Police Services Board, “the officer attempted to speak with the woman but there was a language barrier and the discussion between the officer and woman became animated.”
But witnesses say that the animation was created by police, not the woman.
“It wasn't the result of the elderly woman doing anything,” says Umair Muhammad, who was in the play area with his 20-month-old son when the confrontation occurred. “It was solely that the police making it animated and threatening to arrest her. Sure, calling that animated is one way to put it.”
By all accounts, the elderly woman spoke no English — Ottawa police, according to Bell, contacted an officer who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, and the two had a conversation over the phone. But before that happened, says Muhammad, the woman was held at arm's length by police when she tried to reach for her bag, with the officer saying “I'm at my limit” and threatening to arrest her if she didn't sit down.
“They were threatening to arrest her if she didn't comply with their instructions, but the woman didn't understand English. It was the most absurd scene, having this elderly woman held at arm's length by this police officer. I mean, (the officer) wasn't shouting at her, but she wasn't reasonable, either.
“I've only been in the neighbourhood since January,” he added, “but other people are saying they've seen her in the park for years, so I don't know how police haven't seen this woman and know that she's there. And the concerning thing now is that she felt unwelcome; it's less welcoming for our seniors. Will she come back?”
Another woman who witnessed the interaction, but didn't give her name, felt similarly, saying that she would have taken her children away from the park if she'd felt at all threatened by the woman.
“She was a harmless 80-year-old woman. They should have spoken nicely to her, and not the way that they did. There are other people in the park, drinking and swearing, that I'm more worried about.”
One Maclaren Avenue resident, whose house faces the park and who asked not to be named, described the police response as a misguided decision that didn't treat the woman with dignity.
“I know a lot of police officers who come into the park and are very tolerant,” she said. “We've worked with them for a long time and they treat people 99 per cent of the time with dignity. But this lacked common sense.”
The resident, who has lived across from Dundonald for 40 years, says the park has numerous problems, including ongoing incidents of drug use and drinking, and people using motorized vehicles. And too many area residents don't use the park because they feel it's unsafe.
“We want to bring balance back to the park,” she said, “which allows as many people as possible to enjoy it.”
“Dundonald Park,” Muhammad wrote in a Reddit post about the incident, “and Centretown more broadly, definitely has plenty of people who can pose a danger to public well-being. Elderly ladies doing Tai Chi don't fit that description. I know they have a stressful job, but the police need to do better.”
Bell, meanwhile, has asked for an internal review of the incident, from the initial 911 call to conclusion.
“It's important that our community sees this information and considers the impacts of misunderstandings and barriers like language,” he wrote. “It is something we can all learn from.”
He has also asked OPS'S Centretown Neighbourhood Resource Team to contact the local community to discuss this incident.