An incident involving the wife of a police chief in B.C.’s Lower Mainland is now being investigated by an outside police agency.
Lorraine Dubord, wife of Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord, allegedly sprayed a woman with a garden hose who was walking in front of their home earlier this month.
Kiran Sidhu said she was walking along Centennial Beach on June 6 when she climbed onto some rocks as the tide came in quickly. Sidhu said she was trying to keep her balance and touched a fence on a residential property.
The homeowner was outraged and confronted her, she told Global News.
“She was like, ‘Don’t touch my fence’ and I was like, ‘OK’ and I didn’t,” Sidhu said. “And I’m still going along and I almost tripped and she was like, ‘Ha, that would be so funny if you fell, but then again we have enough beached whales around here.'”
Sidhu, a Richmond school teacher, said what happened next left her stunned.
“Then she said, ‘I should spray you with my hose,'” and I said, ‘That would be assault.’ I very clearly said that to her.
“And she went and got her hose and sprayed me in the face — all over my hair and face — with her hose.”
Minutes later, Sidhu’s friends confronted the homeowner and recorded the encounter on video.
She said she later filed a report with local police, but was eventually told the case was closed. So she took further action.
“It feels like a conflict of interest, so then it got transferred to the RCMP.”
In an emailed statement to Global News, Delta Police confirmed an alleged assault is being investigated by Surrey RCMP, who received the file this week.
Delta Mayor George Harvie, chair of the police board, responded to request for comment with an emailed statement, saying the police board will give a further statement once the RCMP probe is complete.
“I have recently made statements along with Delta Council and the Delta Police Board, absolutely and unequivocally condemning racism in our city,” the statement said.
Neither Neil nor Lorraine Dubord have responded to a Global News request for an interview.
Late Thursday afternoon, Lorraine Dubord issued an apology in the Delta Optimist newspaper.