A confrontation between a City of Peterborough snowplow operator and a resident has resulted in an assault charge and is raising concerns about the treatment of municipal workers across Ontario.
In a media release issued Friday, Peterborough police confirmed a man has been charged with assault in connection to an incident with a sidewalk plow operator last week.
Officers were called to the area of Marsh Avenue and Broadway Boulevard around 11 a.m. on Feb. 11 following a report that a resident had opened the door of a city snow clearing machine and twice tried to remove the driver’s hearing protection.
Investigators say they later received video of the incident.
A 56-year-old Peterborough man was arrested and charged with assault. He was released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in court in May.
However, this interaction is not the first of its kind. Over the past couple months, several similar incidents have been reported within the province.
The union representing the worker issued a statement to Global News saying the incident has left their members unsettled.
Get breaking National news
“Our members are definitely very concerned and definitely feel a little bit intimidated by this most recent incident,” CUPE Local 504 said.
- Almost half of Toronto-area immigrant settlement services expect program closures
- Sixth complainant expected to take the stand in Frank Stronach’s sexual assault trial
- Ontario school boards urge open conversation about future of trustees
- Ford government stops reports summarizing child welfare network deaths
“The sad reality is that instances of assault, abuse, and harassment are increasing towards city workers. We go to work every day to do our jobs, serving Peterborough, and we do that with pride and responsibility and in response, we regularly get screamed at.”
The union says aggressive encounters are not uncommon for public works staff.
“People have thrown shovels in the past at our trucks and also verbally aggressive towards members,” the statement said.
The Association of Ontario Road Supervisors (AORS) told Global News it has raised concerns with provincial officials, citing what it describes as a pattern of harassment, threats and interference involving municipal workers, particularly during winter maintenance operations.
In letters sent to the province, the organization outlined reported incidents including an individual allegedly throwing a large chunk of ice at active municipal equipment, a resident threatening to kill a sidewalk plow operator, and a man climbing onto a snowplow and refusing to get off.
Other examples cited include a voicemail threatening to shoot a plow driver with a shotgun, and an incident in which a resident allegedly jumped in front of an active plow during a major snow event, delaying operations for more than an hour.
“What was once the occasional frustrated complaint… has evolved into a growing safety risk that is disrupting municipal operations,” said Karla Musso-Garcia, president of the AORS.
The organization says these types of encounters can have wider consequences as winter maintenance crews play a critical role during heavy snow periods.
“When winter maintenance operations are delayed due to unsafe conditions created by members of the public, the ripple effect can be significant,” said Kelly Elliott, the group’s interim executive director.
In one of its letters to Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini, the AORS called for stronger legal protections for municipal winter maintenance crews.
The organization said it would like the province to treat interference with snow clearing operations with the same severity it treats obstruction of emergency responders.
It also asked Ontario to consider clearer public safety rules aimed at reducing risks to snowplow crews and those who maintain critical services.
– With files from Global News’ Madeline McColl
MY COMPANY OR POLICE A&F DICARLO CONSTRUCTION DIDNT DEFEND ME. NO CHARGES WERE MADE ON THE ATTACKERS ON MY MACHINE, WHICH AFFECECTED MY MENTAL STATE, AND I WAS INTIMIDATED BY THE POLICE DOING A DRY RUN. EVEN THE MAJOR AND THE PUBLIC THREATENED ME. I HAD A GOOD PORTION OF THE PUBLIC ON MY SIDE TOO THO. I HAD TEXT THREATS ON MY LIFE ON MEDIA. THE CITY DIDNT DO ANYTHING! I AM NOW ON LEAVE.
Maybe the operator should stop filling in the ends of people’s driveways. Assaulting him doesn’t make it right, but still I feel angered when it happens to me right after I finish shoveling.
Until every Canadian is protected and represented equally plow operator to Prime Minister Canada will remain a banana republic. We need a “Justice Fight Club”. If convicted of an assault/violent crime, your sentence is 1-3-10-100 cage fights with random others which Canadians can bet on the outcome. Great revenue generation plus justice / entertainment for all. Ragers, bullies only attack those they think can’t hurt them. Just evening the playing field. I’m not joking in the least. Canada has so little justice!
Proof that more and more people are becoming mentally unbalanced in their lives
Proof that more and more people are becoming mentally unhinged
Plow operators are becoming increasingly more sanctimonious … thank them for doing the job?? That’s the job??!! Don’t want to plow snow? Quit. Most operators are hostile redneck wannabe Alpha hicks … plow driver mouthed off to wrong taxpayer. They are all tough guys when in a 7 ton plow !
Why?
The right question isn’t being asked. Instead of seeking protection, how about seeking to understand why citizens are getting more aggressive. Perhaps the money they would have spent on protecting municipal workers can go towards more services, or training, or addressing whatever the problem is. Stop looking at the results, solve the real problem.
Get a life people. Bunch of whiners.
After reading so many moronic comments seemingly supporting violence against people just trying to do their job. Society has a lot of jerks in it who seem to justify violence. Maybe that’s why there’s so many mega cretans out there.
My son worked two seasons snow clearing and salting. He worked long hours sometimes 17 hours shifts. Many times he said he was threatened by people. He quit doing it and got a regular job. There’s no reason to suffer abuse just trying to do your job.
Then maybe they wpuld prefer to clesr the sidewalks and streets themselves instead of having city workers do it?
Maybe this wouldnt be happening if they didnt leave mountains of snow at the bottom of our driveways. Municipal governments too cheap to have driveway clearing blades. the people WANT their driveway left clear, people DO NOT need to shovel that when it could easily be moved! Don’t blame the people for being angry over this callous practice its you the gov fault!
I think it’s all a waist of tax payers money they do make everything a mess ..machines are to big for residential sidewalks and when they are cleared by a homeowner that plow comes thru and the snow falls in front of the wheels he drives over it and packs it down to ice they RIP up front grass and the mess it makes people with walkers or wheelchairs cant manouver over it it’s a waste of time and money and they dont cone back in spring to repair all the damage
you didnt even say whayt happened…
I love how there is zero concern for people’s frustrations as to why people are so fet up that they are turning to violence. Great one side reporting, not biased at all
Had a guy throw a sovel at my plow truck once and hit my drivers window. He didnt realize we also plow at night. Filled his driveway up and never saw him again.
You should make a piece on the municipal snow removal practices as well where the plowers dump meters high of snow on driveways even after residents spend hours cleaning them, just to start clean the snow for the city.they definitely can do a better job by removing snow in trucks.
Snow removal I do agree we shouldn’t attack or have conflict with the plow drivers. A lot of them do a great job. I have seen for myself that there are also some poor operators who pile snow to the side of your driveway and then fill it in. Supervisors should be on patrol. Follow up to make sure the work is being done correctly. We see lots of plows nowadays with the side arm going down to clear the person’s driveway, they just filled in. This would be a great option for a lot of people and a lot of cities and should resolve a lot of conflicts🤣
Are you going to report why they were attacking?
What is the people’s reasoning behind it?
Are they clearing snow and blocking driveways or something? I see nothing on the other side of the argument to portray anything other than civil violence…
To anyone sticking up for the home owner, the one at fault, booboo. You’re a pssy! Plows piss me off too, when they leave you snowed in, but that’s life! Prepare for it, deal with it and get it done! If youre too weak to shovel it, get a neighborhood kid to do it, or better yet buy a freaking snowblower. Damn babies. I hate it when people park on the street across from my house, do I go flatten their tires and bust their windows? Well, ya…I do. But im ready for the consequences if caught!! Grow a pair ladies!
I was thinking about the same thing last night. I am surprised it took this long fir someone to drag one of their sorry mugs out and beat it.
I have video evidence of plows intentionally putting a ton of snow at the end of my driveway, backing up, grabbing more, and putting the rest of it on my lane. F*ck the plow drivers, I can only hope they get even an ounce of the suffering they have cause, down the road.
Why would anyone attack a snow plow operator, what did he do to upset the resident???
Maybe get the population to think harder about their childhood ways instead of remembering what Charly did last week. Life is not free, never will be, as long as Trade resumes.
Poor city Angela!
City forgot to mention the reason for that conflict. How should owner can deal with 3 tones of snow covering the access to the house where he work for couple hours to clear it? All his work was gone in seconds by a brave city worker whom didn’t care.
All this happens every time when snows.
I totally agree there should be no physical contact between parts, but let’s not make it as Red riding hood vs big bad wolf the way city presented it.
Do you not think there is a reason for the reaction? People in houses are not equipped to deal with literal tons of ice and snow..when a man with heavy equipment blocks the way out of your home with a glacier, what do you expect?, especially after hours of back -breaking shovelling from the previous windrow. Other municipalities have wing plows and removal equipment that does not leave piles that stop citizens from getting to work. Poor planning and infrastructure is to blame. It’s Canada, it snows, put it in the budget instead of your next raise.
Residents do not act like that unless there’s a gross violation of their (perceived) rights. They might feel helplessly frustrated over poor snow removal practices, such as leaving large piles of snow blocking driveways or sidewalks. This frustration about (perceived) uncaring snowplowers can escalate into anger, leading to confrontations.
Oh please these sidewalk plow guys are the worst I remember one year my car was overhanging on my driveway less than an inch and where I lived we couldn’t get any tighter and one morning he left a 3.5 feet pile of snow behind my car I lost it and called the town I told them to go ahead and rip up the boulevard just don’t leave snow behind my car again I have no sympathy for these people.
They have worked a lot of overtime. Where i live you never see a plow truck unless it’s overtime. On stat holidays like Christmas and new years even the tiniest skif of snow will bring out the entire fleet. Dragging the blades hard as if they are digging for gold in bedrock. Its a miracle nobody has been killed yet.
Its sad that the city employees had his mello harshed by a citizen. He needs to be executed for disrupting a slack ass union worker.
Try being a city bus operator!!! 😳🤨
Plows putting snow at end of driveways isn’t a new thing . I recall it’s been happening in my 62 yrs of life . It’s winter in Canada people! Get over it or move somewhere else ! Bunch of whiners ….
I’m not sure what is happening to people. Very one seems stressed out at the smallest things and violence is getting worst. No respect for anyone? It’s all about themselves?
there is probably a good reason
Why is the snow plow driver covering up the fire hydrant. So many times I have cleared mine and they come a long and cover it up. And it’s freaking heavy snow to remove
Can Global not provide readers an idea of why on earth this is purportedly occurring? Why are these members of the public trying to stop the clearance of a transit hazard and maintenance of roads snd sidewalks???
Nowadays news reporting on social media are done without proper investigation and validation..
City should make sure these operators do not leave piles of snow on people’s driveway.. wish they were trained and services extended to removing snow away from sidewalks and driveways as well.. that kind of service would be truly appreciated.
Lots off sick people blocked in by city that need an ambulance how many died city should be sued lowlife lazy workers’ dont even live in city
What’s missing from this report is the other side of the story . I’m not condoning any form of violence in any situation ,but let me be clear , city services are not always delivered with respect for the tax payer who’s paying their salaries. I have worked for years with city and municipal contractors , which means I have personal experience with the lack of pride in there performances .
Some of these instances may have developed from city employees lack of concern for the situation and lack of action to find a resolution .
If your going to report on a problem , report on the “whole” issue .
I have personally seen these city drivers come after you clean up snd deliberately leave a mountain off snow when you got be out at 530 as m and spend an hour and a half to dig out the mayor should be fired and all lazy snow plogh drivers let private guy do job
Teach them how to use the equipment properly before you send them out
People got frustrated probably because of how they do they job…mess is everywhere.Off course,no one should be aggressive towards public workers’ ..but it happen..
Hope the charges are dropped. I’ve had to call the police on these clowns after one rammed a snowbank well up on my property. Looked like they were intoxicated on the job. There have been numerous complaints around the country against these baboons. When I filled a complaint with the city over this incident and the numerous incidents of them dumping snow on the sidewalk in front of my house, they tried to blame the local Dollarama. When I contacted Dollarama’s HQ on the off chance that it was them, the woman was more than upset with the accusations by city staff as her garden was torn up by these types of low lives. Stop employing morons who harass the general public.
How can someone be shaken by just pulling their ear buds out of their ears ? Most of the citys don’t clean the snow properly and it angered some residents more than the others, no one should be assaulted. People must get together against their city management not the employees.
Operators should be allowed to continue clearing the streets or sidewalks regardless of who or what gets in front of them. The resident or individual idiot that jumps in front of the snow clearing machine can deal with the consequences. After all, it was their choice to in a way that is unsafe for everyone involved.
I have also been upset by sidewalk snowplow drivers in Toronto not being more carefully to my property. They often plow chunks earth and grass from my lawn all over the walkway. Its my property they’re damaging and Im.sick of it.
Maybe stop filling in everyones driveways, and get the machines that scoop out the driveway entrance after.
Anyone surprised.
New world order.
Sad but true.
Not once did the other side of the story get mentioned. Quite obviously the operator yapped or did something. These folks are not perfect by any means
While never condoning any behavior whereas municipal workers are put in harm’s way.
Why such a one sided story?
If you are having an uptick in this kind of frustration, there has to be a reason.
Seems like everyone in Canada over the last ten years is just a bit angrier….wonder why?
Terry Swiech comment is part of this issue.
Maybe the city should raise the plow infront of his property to the center of thr road way.
So now he can shovel the roadway in front of his property…DAH
Snow plow operators seem to take great pleasure in blocking driveways. Not surprising that someone is going to snap.