Watch above: A Saskatoon woman spent three days in jail after being picked up on an arrest warrant she says she didn’t know about. The woman was to be a witness in a court case that took place when she was working out of the province. Amber Rockliffe tells us she now wants an apology from the authorities.
SASKATOON – A woman is looking for an apology from Saskatoon police after recently spending three nights in a jail cell. Sheila Crittin says she was arrested after failing to appear as a witness at a trial.
Crittin witnessed a horrific car crash in 2012. As a social worker, her training sprang into action and she went to offer assistance.
“My heart went out to him right away … he’s pinned, he can’t move, he’s screaming,” recalled Crittin.
She was later called to testify at the trial for the driver involved in the crash.
An officer came to her door to deliver a subpoena. Crittin’s husband explained she wouldn’t be able to attend the trial as she was working in Alberta.
The trial was adjourned several times over the next year and Crittin said officers delivered at least three subpoenas to her door. What she wasn’t told was that there was a warrant for her arrest for failing to attend court.
She only learned of the warrant when she went for a work-related criminal check and police told her she was under arrest.
“I told her I couldn’t be locked in a room, that I have severe anxiety, I’m claustrophobic,” explained Crittin.
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A judge wasn’t available and Crittin, a mother of two, spent the next three nights in jail.
“It was just so degrading and humiliating,” said Crittin.
To make matters worse for her was the food she was being served.
“It was all McDonalds, and I told them I can’t eat wheat.”
She says even if she could have eaten, there was nothing to clean her hands with after using the bathroom.
What’s frustrating to Crittin is why she wasn’t informed about the arrest warrant early.
Saskatoon police are hoping to find out the answer.
“She has made a complaint to the provincial complaints commission, but before that was ever made, the chief asked for an investigation to be done internally,” said Saskatoon police spokesperson Alyson Edwards.
Edwards says all information will be forwarded to the complaints commission.
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