Judge quashes driving ban over race-based police harassment issue

A judge has quashed a 90-day driving ban after finding the adjudicator in the case did not properly consider whether the motorist had been the victim of race-based harassment by police.

On April 12, 2015, Floyd Semon Madden was pulled over by RCMP shortly after leaving Pacho’s Bar on 108th Avenue in Surrey.

In an affidavit filed in the case, Madden said that although he’d been drinking at the bar, he was not over the legal limit and knew it was safe for him to drive.

Madden said that after he was pulled over, the officer asked him a number of questions about his identity which he answered and noted that he was often confused with his brother, who had a “very long” history of involvement with police and criminal activity.

Although his brother had moved to Jamaica, Madden said he was often stopped by police who suspected that he was his brother or that he was associated with his brother’s criminal activities.

“I am in no way involved in anything criminal,” said Madden’s affidavit. “I feel harassed by this. I do not believe that this would happen if I were white.”

When the officer asked him about his brother, he told him the brother was no longer in the country but got the impression that the officer did not believe him, he said in the affidavit.

“He was aggressive with me, and it made me nervous. I felt as though the police were treating me like I was my brother, not like I was a law-abiding citizen.”

Madden said that he was told to exit the vehicle and complied, but reluctantly, and was told to stand on the sidewalk after which he was handcuffed.

The officer asked for a breath sample for a roadside screening device, but Madden said he didn’t comply since he no longer felt he was being treated fairly.

After the arrival of backup officers, Madden said he agreed to take the test but was told it was too late. Instead, he was told he was free to go but that he’d be prohibited from driving for 90 days and that his vehicle would be impounded for 30 days.

Madden applied to the B.C. Superintendent of Motor Vehicles for a review of the driving ban. In Jan. 2017, the superintendent’s adjudicator confirmed the prohibition.

Madden then filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to have the adjudicator’s decision set aside as being unreasonable.

In her ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes found that the adjudicator’s decision was not reasonable because it failed to address whether Madden had a reasonable excuse for failing or refusing to give a breath sample because of what he perceived as race-based harassment in the traffic stop.