Courtenay, B.C. (Comox Valley Echo) – RCMP have apologized to a Vancouver Island couple for mistaking their tomatoes and dahlias for pot plants.
A Courtenay, B.C., man said he was roused from sleep by police officers on Aug. 29 and went downstairs to see his wife in handcuffs.
An RCMP officer then handed him a search warrant and told him he was under arrest for growing marijuana, said the man, who asked not to be named.
The officer told him he could go upstairs and change his clothes and by the time he made it back downstairs, his wife’s handcuffs were removed and he saw police officers with flashlights searching their back yard.
He said he turned on the garden floodlight to allow the police officers to get a better look at the plants in the backyard.
“Almost in the blink of an eye there was a change in the atmosphere as the cop that accompanied me upstairs advised us that there had been a mistake,” said the man, who does not have a criminal record.
The arrests came after a two-week investigation that included aerial surveillance of the couple’s backyard.
The man said that his wife, who is in her 60s and suffers from tendinitis, was manhandled by police and suffered “considerable pain.”
Last week, the couple delivered a letter of complaint to the RCMP.
The day after, Insp. Tom Gray, the top Mountie in Courtenay, personally delivered a letter of apology to the couple.
“I wish to state without any reservation and on behalf of the members and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and do apologize for the harm that occurred when you were arrested, handcuffed and a search warrant executed at your residence,” Gray said in the letter.
“It is important to reiterate that even though the members involved did not intend to cause harm, and acted in good faith, I firmly believe that we must continue to improve our practices in an effort toward our overarching mantra of ’safe homes and safe communities.’”
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