It takes a ticket to have avoided an icy sidewalk

Photo courtesy, Pierre-Jean Séguin
Samuel Laflamme holds in his hand his ticket $ 48 received on the rue Georges, in the sector of Masson-Angers in Gatineau.

Pierre-Jean Séguin, special collaboration

Monday, February 26, 2018 17:56

UPDATE
Monday, 26 February, 2018 20:28

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GATINEAU | A man of the Outaouais do not digest a ticket he received because he walked on the edge of the street rather than on the sidewalk was impassable due to the freezing rain.

Samuel Laflamme had just left a bar in the rue Georges in the sector Masson-Angers in Gatineau at about 3 a.m. in the night from Friday to Saturday when he was hit by this amazing ticket $48.

The man admits he had been drinking and that he didn’t want to take his car to go home. Anyway, he said, he has not received a citation to be found on the public highway in a state of intoxication, but well for not having walked on the sidewalk.

Abuse of power

A police officer from Gatineau was arrested while he was returning home.

“He asked me : “where are you going ? You know that you do not have the right to walk in the street ?” I said, “yes, but look at how is it that there is ice on the sidewalks”. He responded that this is not serious. You should walk on the sidewalks, ” says the young man in the twenties. According to him, it is abuse of power on the part of the police officer.

Not later than Thursday, while it was anticipated from the freezing rain over several sectors, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec published a message on Facebook saying that pedestrians could walk along the streets when the sidewalks are too slippery.

Photo Facebook

The publication of the SAAQ, which suggests the pedestrian to do
walk on the sidewalks too icy.

Visibly frustrated by the situation, Samuel Laflamme has immediately published a video in social networks. Icy sidewalks after freezing rain events is not in doubt.

“There was no salt on the sidewalk. It was just the bare ice “, he laments.

In reality, the police officer has enforced a law that stipulates that it is forbidden to walk in the street.

In an email exchange, the Service de police de Gatineau ranks behind the patrolman who issued the ticket of the offence, stating that the ticket was ” justified “.

The police, however, declined our interview request, under the pretext that the offender will be able to discuss his case in the municipal court.

The construction worker of 21 years intends to challenge this fine for the ” principle “.

Samuel Laflamme believes that this violation was not a coincidence and that it is targeted by the local police.

“We were all young people with modified cars. I still get a ticket for non-compliance of my vehicle, ” he explains.

– With the collaboration of TVA Gatineau