Posted on 04/29/2020 8:21:24 AM PDT by rickmichaels
An Aurora woman ticketed $880 for “standing too long in a park” with her baby and dog plans to fight the fine tooth-and-nail.
Roxana (who didn’t wish to use her last name), a new mom to a six-month-old and owner to an Australian Shepherd, took her babies for a walk on April 18 around 4:30 p.m. to Edward Coltham Park near Leslie St. and St. John’s Sdrd.
She walked down one of the narrow paths in the park and pulled over her stroller and dog into a nearby gazebo to let three seniors pass. She responded to a text while her dog was at her side and baby asleep.
Once the group has passed, Roxana said she continued on the pathway, but was abruptly met by Town of Aurora bylaw officer Mario Munguia in a vehicle marked animal services. He asked her why she was in the park and if she knew the park was closed and she responded that she was walking her dog. She said he then asked for her identification, which she didn’t have on her, but cooperated with giving him other personal information.
He then wrote her a ticket for $880 for being in the closed park and that she was standing around too long – despite the town allowing the public to access trails and pathways. Officially, the ticket says the offence is “failure to comply with orders during public emergency.”
“His line of questioning was very much as if a police officer was questioning me,” Roxana, 29, told the Toronto Sun on Tuesday.
“He told me it was a zero-tolerance policy and his words verbatim was that I was standing for over two minutes. My head exploded at that point. It made me feel like I had killed someone or sold drugs or did something ridiculous.”
Roxana wrote a post on Facebook about her experience.
“He also mentioned that he was watching me from afar. I was also absolutely alone. So although there were plenty of people ‘loitering,’ as the officer called it, he only had jurisdiction to issue me a ticket because I had my dog with me.”
According to the Town of Aurora’s website, all parks are closed, however, “trails are open for use and residents may utilize the pathways to walk through the parks. Please practice social distancing when using Aurora’s trails and do not use park benches and picnic tables and avoid all high touch surfaces on your journeys.”
Roxana followed up with an email to the town’s bylaw manager, Alexander Wray, to ask why Munguia was not wearing personal protective equipment and not adhering to physical distancing rules. Wray responded bylaw officers may break physical distancing in order to do their jobs, but didn’t make it clear why he wasn’t wearing PPE. A city spokesman told the Sun it’s up to individual officers to decide.
“The town has made it clear that only trails and pathways are open to be walked on” and that officers are enforcing the bylaw “given a lack of compliance in the community,” Wray wrote in the email.
Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas said he doesn’t have jurisdiction to revoke the ticket and that the town’s legal counsel has advised staff not to discuss the details of the case because the ticket will be fought in court.
Mrakas admitted in a phone interview Tuesday having the parks closed and yet the walkways open is “confusing.”
“My understanding is if you’re not on the walkway, then you’re in violation,” he said. “We have hundreds of kilometres of trails that are still open, but we explain to residents, stick to pathways if possible. We also don’t encourage people to use pathways in the parks. If they have to go through them, they’re there and you won’t get ticketed if you’re on a pathway, but parks are closed.”
The mayor said under the provincial orders, people won’t be ticketed by moving aside to make room for people coming towards them.
“If you’re going to walk through the park, it’s not to stand in the park,” he said. “How long does it take for someone to walk by and then you just jog back in?”
The Town of Aurora would not get into the specifics of Roxana’s case, citing privacy issues, but said “parks and facilities have clear and visible signage indicating closures and an education campaign about the closures and provincial orders was done.”
Since March 25, Aurora’s bylaw services has had various interactions with 3,133 people in its parks, sports fields and public spaces. It has received 171 formal complaints from people breaking physical distancing orders, resulting in 61 charges — or 2% — out of all interactions.
Michael Bryant of The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said this problem of “ticketing first, asking questions later” is widespread during the pandemic.
“I think it’s a combination of general COVID anxiety (officers) are under and power-tripping, which arise from these new powers,” he said. “There is an apprehension of abuse of process, if not political pressure put on them to ticket people, because mayors, councillors and cabinet ministers writing directly to the chief of police and bylaw officials about enforcement. This is not constitutional kosher. Politicians cannot be directing police.”
Brian Gray, a spokesman for the Ministry of Attorney General, said the province announced in March it was suspending timelines under the Provincial Offences Act and related proceedings.
“As such, defendants who are charged with an offence during this period and wish to exercise their options on the back of a ticket will have an opportunity to do so once the state of emergency is lifted and statutory timelines resume,” said Gray.
Roxana said this was the first time in weeks she left the house to get some exercise. She had been told fresh air was good for her to ease her anxiety, on top of having been cooped up in the house with a newborn and recovering from bronchitis for months.
She said she wonders if there is a broader problem of officers not being adequately trained.
“In a time when there’s a lot of tension, to scare people by randomly handing out tickets is absolutely inappropriate,” she said.
“This is fear-mongering at its finest. I was told I was still allowed to walk in the park but I guess that’s not absolutely true. I got a ticket for social distancing, minding my own business and having a dog. That was my crime.”
3 of my children (adults) are captives of Illinois, and really cannot leave for several years. AG Barr has instructed the DOJ to look into infringement of Constitutional rights. People need to get together and either bring class action suits, or send petitions signed by as many people as they can get to sign, with specific law enforcement agencies who are doing this kind of crap, in each locality.
I miss my kids, but I thank God every day that I live in a dumpy little town in Oklahoma.
[[“If you’re going to walk through the park, it’s not to stand in the park,” he said.]]
Oh yippie- now Canadians need government to instruct them on how to walk, talk and act while outside outside their own homes- how long before they come INTO their homes and fine them for not ‘acting correctly enough to suit them’?
Good for this police officer. Few things anger me more, especially during this epidemic, than people walking onto a public sidewalk, and just stopping and standing. At least it’s inconsiderate. At most it’s dangerous as hell. There is a much larger contingent of exercise walkers stuck without work. We do a pretty good job of avoiding each other until it comes to idiots blocking sidewalks.
“Court” fees most likely. The 750 probably goes to the mayors “budget”.
Whats with the name calling. Why the need to be so rude to fellow FReepers?
Whats with the name calling. Why the need to be so rude to fellow FReepers?
This is precisely the attitude my county is having regarding opening the beach.
You may go to the beach for exercise, but you may not stand and you may not sit down. No chairs allowed.
No parking allowed.
Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids. How well do you think this line of nonsense will hold up in court?
Civil Rights, anybody??
THANK YOU!!!
(shutting up now!)
Where’s the crown?
Specifically, do you mean deliberately turning on your video camera and recording? I would assume that but perhaps you meant something else....
Yep, I call it ‘revenue harvesting’ and it’s unethical. To pay our taxes only to have those that get paid from them to then rip us off is diabolical. I swear some of the police convince themselves they’re doing something positive that we, the peasants, just don’t understand - the ‘big picture’ and all. Ah, thanks for deciding for us - we’ll get to a point where WE remind you that’s not how it’s going to work.
Apologies in advance if I missed the sarcasm tag. lol
The scofflaws really catching my ire are those that blow through 4 way stops. It's a bad habit, lazy and unsafe driving. I'm surprised the local PD hasn't set up traps for them. Then again, not much driving going on.
I’ll bet you binge watch Law and Order episodes...lol.
Video recording is best and since most people have a video camera on their phone so there is a natural alignment with using a cell phone.
But, home video systems (I have NightOwl) as well as home audio recording can work as well.
This was in Canada, which is a little further down the slippery slope than the US is. At least the fine was $880 in Canadian dollars.
This is a classic case of police brass telling cops to go write tickets, and the cops being all too willing to do so because it will help them down the line. It’s a shame but this happens all the time. The brass sets the quotas and the cops get in line to get the benefits.
“Where’s the crown?”
Would that be Black blended, Reserve blended, or Regal Apple.
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