He gets pulled over by Canadian cops, refuses to roll down the window, asks the police why he had been stopped – his car window is smashed and he is physically
assaulted and forcibly removed from his car as an answer.
“Hit the brakes you moron. Open the door,” the unidentified Vancouver sergeant is seen as saying in the video. “Sir, why have you pulled me over?” the driver identified as Bodhi Sattva replies, refusing to comply with the officer’s order. “I’m not playing this game. You’re under arrest. I’m gonna break the window now in two seconds,” the officer warns. “Why am I under arrest? You have to tell me why I’m under arrest. Why are you intimidating me?” the motorist asks through the partially open window.
The officer tells the driver that he can smell marijuana coming out of his car. “You do not smell marijuana in my vehicle,” the driver says. A second officer appears, confirms the marijuana smell and tells the driver he is under arrest. The motorist then tells the officer he is on the phone with his lawyer. The officer threatens to break the window again while Sattva says he does not consent.
The officer proceeds to smash the window and physically removes the driver. According to the Vancouver Police Department, the driver was charged with “possession of a controlled substance, possession for the purposes of trafficking and obstructing a police officer”.
In a blog post, Sattva claims, “What happened that night was a violation of my constitutional rights. I don’t deserve to be treated this way, no one ever does. The officers found marijuana in the vehicle, I am prescribed cannabis for medical purposes and was licensed under the (Marijuana Medical Access Regulations)”.
Paul Doroshenko, a lawyer from British Columbia, a specialist in handling cases of impaired driving, said, “You can’t blame this individual for it. He’s being polite and cooperative. You can blame the police for their attitude. There is no justification for this type of behaviour. If we start allowing behaviour like this we might as well not even have a constitution”.
Doroshenko added motorists are under no obligation to open their doors when asked by police. “Ultimately what they do is, in my view, an unlawful arrest, smashing his window, destroying his property and it looks like a violent arrest”.
The police reportedly said that if drivers don’t want their windows smashed in, they should just cooperate with police. Do you agree?
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