UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a response from Montreal police on Nov. 22.
Maire Noonan admits that the U-turn she pulled on Fairmont Avenue on Friday morning was against the law.
However, it’s what she says police did to her afterward that she has a big problem with.
The 55-year-old university instructor was driving on Fairmont near Waverly to meet her stepdaughter’s kids and husband, before going to class, but the street was blocked.
“I reversed behind the school bus as if I was parking,” she recalls, “and then I checked and there was no traffic and I did a U-turn.”
Police pulled her over right away.
She says she apologized and tried to explain why she did it: “I have a class at 8:30 a.m. and I have to pick up my grand-kids who are waiting on the curb for me.”
They took her documents, but then returned to tell her that her driver’s permit was suspended.
She says she was surprised, but tried to explain why it could have happened.
“The policeman was just completely unresponsive, so the only thing he said was, ‘Step out of your car,”… he was not nice,” she fumed.
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They wanted to seize her car, but she asked to call her husband.
“There was a clear solution which involved my husband coming over and taking over,” she said, since his driver’s license was still valid.
She claims they wouldn’t allow her to and tried to remove her from the car.
She said she hugged the steering wheel in panic, but they managed to pull her out and she says she ended up on the ground, screaming.
“One of the policemen, the first policeman, put his knee on my back and handcuffed me,” Noonan told Global News.
As she was placed inside the police car, she said she hit her head.
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Filmmaker Mary Ellen Davis is making a documentary, which includes an exploration of police using excessive force.
“Why do they have to be so violent so quickly, and why can’t they de-escalate?” she posed.
“Aren’t they trained to de-escalate, and try to identify when a person is in crisis?”
In a written statement Wednesday, Montreal police say that after several checks, they found that the police report of the incident is different from Noonan’s version of events, and that if she feels aggrieved she can challenge the police officers in court.
They also say that they’re unable to comment further.
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Noonan got three tickets totaling about $800. She was also charged with threatening police and resisting arrest.
She doesn’t blame the entire police organization, but thinks something needs to be done.
She says she has heard from people who’ve had similar experiences and she wants an apology.
“I think, the way it came across to me, is that they were on their little power trip,” she said.
Her driver’s permit has already been reinstated and she expects her car will be released any day now.
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