In a video that quickly went viral, an Ottawa police officer is seen physically restraining and handcuffing a frail 79-year-old man for refusing to present ID when stopped for honking his horn in downtown Ottawa, in February of 2022.

That man is Gerald Charlebois, an Ottawa resident who had the nerve to show support to convoy participants standing against the mandates. At the time, a temporary injunction had been put in place regarding excessive noise in the downtown area, as a result of the early days of the convoy.

In the video the officer states his name is Jones and declares that he is arresting Mr. Charlebois for failing to produce identification. The subsequent arrest was seen by many as overly aggressive, given the stature and frailty of the elderly man. This view is furthered by subsequent images of the cuts and bruises sustained by Mr. Charlebois during the arrest.

In September he finally saw an end to this egregious situation when his charges were officially dropped, although no clear explanation was provided.

His attorney, David Anber, points out that “failing to provide your driver’s licence is not an arrestable offence”, explaining that “if a person fails to give a driver’s licence, the police officer must ask the person to identify him or herself verbally, and – assuming no issue with the truthfulness of that verbal ID – the officer may not arrest the person.” Anber cited a court of appeal case, R. v. Plummer, to support this argument, and believes this is the most likely reason behind the dismissal of Charlebois’ charges.

In what world do we expect to see the elderly physically restrained for the beep of a horn? Was he even asked if he was aware of the injunction?

An officer’s job is never black and white, requiring constant re-evaluation at every step in an encounter. But an officer also has the choice and ability to escalate or minimize every situation. For an offence as mundane as honking a horn, given the age of the offender, this situation could have ended with a simple citation and a ‘good day sir’.

Instead, it has served to further divide Canadians against the police, and against one another.

To read the Canadian Independent article on this matter with access to the video mentioned, click here