Wrongfully Arrested

So, ‘Scooby’, a fellow Canadian LDS blogger was recently arrested for failing to appear at a small claims court hearing. She was shackled, handcuffed, strip searched and detained in a cell overnight. Turns out, she was never served papers to appear in court.

That really sucks.

44 thoughts on “Wrongfully Arrested

  1. I am not so sure I would call it bad luck as I would sloppy police work.
    I remember once being arrested for a parking meter violation that I thought I had paid.
    The police came to my door and arrested and handcuffed me in front of my young children. They then paraded me out to their car in front of my neighbours as though I was some heinous criminal.
    I lost a lot of respect for the gendarmes with that episode. Their attitude seems to be that we are all criminals, and they are the only sane ones at times.
    I know that they have a difficult job to do when they deal with the criminal element, but when it clouds their judgment to the point that they treat ordinary, law abiding citizens, as though they were the dregs of society, then I think they have lost perspective.
    I doubt she got a ride home after being hauled downtown either.
    If she were a single mom they would have called in social services to take her kids and she would have had to fight to get them back. What a wonderful society we live in when government officials can be so sloppy.

  2. Good to see another cheap shot at the US being worked in here. I was starting to think the site was low on its quota. :(

  3. ltbugaf

    Well I suppose that would be the case, except Johnna isn’t Canadian. So is it still a cheap shot at the US if the comment is made by an American? (at least I think you are American, right Johnna?)

  4. Why would it matter who made the comment? It’s still a cheap shot at the US.

  5. Ah, but then what about the cheap shots at Canadians? They happen constantly. Especially since we didn’t go into Iraq with you.

  6. I never hear cheap shots either way, but maybe it’s here.

    Although my experience with Canadian hospitals made me come home and kiss my doctor on the lips (no tongue).

    Injustice, mistakes, happen everywhere.

  7. “my experience with Canadian hospitals”

    How many hospitals did you stay at annegb? And just so we are fair, I just came back from a HT appointment where the wife informed me her grandpa has cancer and had to wait three months before he could receive an operation in an American hospital.

  8. Oh, golly, I didn’t mean to start a “my country’s better than yours” exchange here.

    Mary, I don’t know about the cheap shots at Canada because I haven’t noticed them on Our Thoughts(except the tongue-in-cheek ones I made on the post about Canada’s Caribbean Province)

  9. No, I see them everywhere else. The Caribbean comment wasn’t a cheap shot. I mean everywhere else. But no one here is anti-American. Ok, not REALLY.

    And don’t worry it’s not starting a my country is better than yours. We already know we live in the best country in the world. :)

    Have you ever seen Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans?

  10. Gee, I hope not. Is it anything like the “How to talk to a Mormon” books that so-called Christian organizations write?

  11. Nope, it’s a comedy show. Not on anymore, but when it was it was hilarious. You would likely have to be Canadian, or understand Canada to get the humour. Basically Rick Mercer talked to different Americans, asking them what they thought about different “Canadian” issues. All of which were made up and embellished.

  12. Bill was in the hospital in BC, Victoria, it was from hell.

    What was the topic? I forgot. Oh. People get wrongfully arrested all the time. Rough, but no big deal, injusticewise. ***** happens.

  13. You can do that kind of show with the citizens of any country, asking them about made-up issues of any nature. It’s not particularly offensive that Mercer chose to do it with Americans, but I hope he doesn’t pretend you couldn’t get the same hilarious results out of Canadians, Botswanans, or anyone else.

  14. annegb, I suspect your judgment of Canadian medicine is based too much on the narrow perspective of a single experience. I would also say your judgment of the “no big deal” character of wrongful arrest is based to much on the narrow perspective of inexperience.

  15. oh i know that. but it was funny. the funny thing is is that we are just above the US, but there were a few who weren’t quite sure where Canada is located.

    Well, you can do it with almost any country, but you will find that Canadians for example, know a lot more about the US than many Americans know about Canada. But see, the made up issues were actually so bizarre that you would be surprised anyone would believe it. For example, that we had stopped the practice of putting our elderly out on ice floes when they become too old to be productive.

    Actually the REALLY funny parts were when he spoke to political figures, and the misconceptions they had about Canada.

  16. Mary, I’m sure that Canadians, on the whole, know more about the US than Americans know about Canada. But that’s a normal product of the USA’s level of influence in the world. Superpowers attract a lot of attention. I’m sure more Ugandans know about Russia, or the UK, or the US, than about Thailand. People all over the world tend to know a little more about the very powerful and influential countries than about the less powerful and influential ones. Canada, great nation that it is, has less power and influence over the world than the US, so it’s very normal for Canadians to know more of the US than vice-versa.

  17. Actually, I assume I would find it quite funny, although right now, I have to get to class.

  18. I watched the one about the “national igloo.” Funny. Definitely funny. It would be funnier, though, if he could bring out people’s own misconceptions rather than telling them a falsehood and getting them to believe him.

  19. The absolute best episodes are the ones where he goes to the Ivy League schools.

    Some of the answers he gets there are priceless.

  20. But is it more of telling students and professors that a certain falsehood is true and seeing if they’ll accept it? That’s actually kind of dull, in my opinion. I hope he’s just quizzing the people on what they know about Canada and seeing what ridiculous answers come out–much funnier because it’s more than just manipulation by the host of the show.

  21. “Street Smarts” is a gameshow I’ve enjoyed from time to time where the host quizzes people on the street about a wide range of topics. The contestants have to guess whether the person got it right or wrong, but the fun of the show is the hilarious wrong answers people give.

  22. Canadian courts might be different but in America you are not arrested without knowledge there is a warrant for your arrest. Did Scooby know about the small claims court? Many people (including good temple recommend holding people) get arrested everyday for not taking care of legal matters. Warrants are issued for failure to appear at court and that is what happened. Sorry but Scooby would have been at fault. Hope a good lawyer was hired.

  23. Bill, you’re not reading. This was a mistake. She was supposed to have been served papers requiring her to be in court, but she wasn’t. The court thought she’d been notified, so when she didn’t show, a warrant was issued for her arrest. But the warrant should never have issued because she was never notified of her obligation to appear in the court.

  24. I read what she wrote – the story never gets better than the first time you hear it either.

    While what happened to Scooby was horrible, the reality of it is that she would have been aware of the problem and did nothing to solve the problem.

    Small claim courts is a civil matter and civil matters do not result in arrest. Small claims is also a Justice of the Peace and JP courts also hear criminal matters. Criminal matters usually involve the police and the police would have issued a form where she agreed (signed) to appear at JP court. Failure to appear at JP court for a criminal matter could and would result in a warrant for her arrest.

    If Scooby does not mind – What was the original court appearance for?

    Bad things happen to good people.

  25. About a million years too late – by DH was surfing the internet and found this blog mentioning me LOL

    OK the original court appearance was for a small claims court matter. Apparently they wanted to have an examination of a debtor and attempted to serve me with the appropriate paper work but I was out of the country. Later, I found out that not only did they not serve me, the opposing party never showed up either so the justice issued a warrant with NO ONE THERE! I have a sworn affidavit from the oppossing parties lawyer which states that no only were they unable to serve me with the paper work, that no one from their side appeared in court that day.

    Hope that this clarifies things for you.

  26. It sounds as if an ast DA was given your paperwork and being lazy they issued warrants without trying to understand the paperwork. It happens quite often.

    Change your life without caring.

    Sorry it happened to you.

  27. Nope – no DA. Just a judge sitting on a bench and issuing a warrant all willy nilly without a thought to the consequences.

    Sigh.

  28. Scooby: Just so you aren’t confused, “George” above is the same person as “Bill” above. Thought you should know so you can understand the thread better.

  29. Every grade school class has the one kid who feels the need to tattle on everyone else.

    How was class today ltbugaf? What did you learn?

    For those of you who did not know, ltbugaf is a student.

  30. Bill, what do my classes have to do with the subject of the thread?

  31. Home School Mary and School Boy ltbugaf: You two think it it some kind of wonderful thing to write George/Bill or Bill/George and mention this combination every chance you get. Seems kind of childish to adults.

  32. It’s not childish—it’s NECESSARY so we can keep straight who we’re talking to. As long as you insist on using multiple names, we have no other way of reducing the confusion you try to cause.

  33. School Boy ltbugaf said: It’s not childish—it’s NECESSARY so we can keep straight who we’re talking to. As long as you insist on using multiple names, we have no other way of reducing the confusion you try to cause.

    Since you have been back from summer vacation, I have allways used George. You and Home School Mary are the ones you use George/Bill or Bill/George.

    Kim said Now, isn’t that ironic.

    Made up any new religious thoughts today?

  34. Bill, why have you changed to George? What’s the point? Also, please notice the threads where you used both names simultaneously.

    Let me see if I have this straight: You’re using what you think are slurs such as “Home School Mary” and “School Boy Ltbugaf,” you’re tossing out content-free taunts such as “Made up any new religious thoughts today?” and at the same time, you’re telling others not to be childish. Is that right?

  35. Oh is he using that as a slur? Wow. Huh, I am actually very pleased to be recognised as a homeschooling parent and don’t AT ALL see that as a slur. So there ya go George/Bill, it doesn’t offend me in the least. I am pleased as punch to be identified as a homeschooler and be numbered among the many great people who homeschool and who have homeschooled.

  36. Yes, Mary. I was trying to point out that Bill’s childish “nicknames” such as “School Boy” and “Home School” aren’t the slurs he intends them to be. That’s because both terms are honorable.

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