Mia P.’s Case, Ottawa
Charges
Fail to Stop for Police; Following Too Close
Result
Charges amended to one single minor offence.
Case Details
Mia P. was driving his car, minding his own business, listening to reggae music. The music was turned up somewhat making it hard to hear sounds outside. Meanwhile a car driving in front of him was driving erratically as the driver was apparently looking for an address and not watching the road. At one point this other driver almost caused an accident to Mia P.. As many people would do, Mia P. hit the horn. Little did he know there were 4 police officers in 2 cruisers a few cars behind him. They decided to pull Mia P.over instead of the other driver. There were elements of racial profiling in this case. At first Mia P. did not hear the quick siren blast and continued driving for 50 meters. Then, when he saw the police it was unsafe to pull over so he continued to drive intending to pull over after an overpass, in a commercial area. The police executed a high risk and very dangerous traffic stop and dragged Mr. P out of his car at gunpoint. They accused Mia P. of criminal conduct. After a thorough search, Mia P. was found to be clean of all wrongdoing however he was charged with failing to stop for a police officer (a serious charge under the Highway Traffic Act) and following too close (they accused him of tailgaiting the other car. After a vigorous defence David Anber was able to persuade the prosecutor to agree to take a plea to a single count of “make unnecessary noise”; the moving violations were dropped.