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Good deed leads to fines, charges

A St. Albert man faces a $250 fine, while his son faces criminal charges after he ran afoul of local RCMP while attempting to use an ATV outfitted with a plow to clear a sidewalk near his house.
Dr. Jon Cooper holds up the $250 ticket he received after using an ATV to clear snow from sidewalks near his property on Bellerose Drive
Dr. Jon Cooper holds up the $250 ticket he received after using an ATV to clear snow from sidewalks near his property on Bellerose Drive

A St. Albert man faces a $250 fine, while his son faces criminal charges after he ran afoul of local RCMP while attempting to use an ATV outfitted with a plow to clear a sidewalk near his house.

The incident began Saturday afternoon when Jon Cooper used the ATV with plow blade attached to clear heavy snow from the sidewalk near his property on Bellerose Drive. Cooper's quad became stuck in the deep snow, prompting him to return home to retrieve both his pickup truck and son to help him free the vehicle.

Cooper parked the truck and began attaching tow ropes to the quad, but before they could get it moving two RCMP officers showed up. Before long, his son was arrested, the ATV was impounded and Cooper was handed a $250 fine. Cooper initially faced $350 in towing and impound fees, but Grandin Towing refunded the sum on Tuesday.

Cooper said he was shocked by the police response. "I ran home and grabbed my truck and got some tow ropes and I got my son. We were just about ready to pull [the ATV] out and the police came along," he said.

Cooper's son Dave now faces charges of resisting arrest and obstruction of a police officer.

Cpl. Laurel Kading with the St. Albert RCMP said the two officers observed a much different scenario and were worried about the pickup that was blocking traffic.

"The two vehicles in front of them put on the brakes and there was almost a collision," she said. "The potential for a collision was very, very high."

Citing the pending charges, Kading declined to get into the specifics about what exactly happened between the officers and Cooper's son, but she said it was not a co-operative situation.

"Our officers were met with resistance. It was not a co-operative atmosphere right from the start," she said. "Two bylaw officers were able to deal with two other situations by way of warning because of the demeanour of the people and the co-operation that was occurring. That didn't happen in this case."

Cooper rejects the idea that there was any danger from the traffic and said the police created a much longer delay than needed.

"I would have been out of there in two minutes," he said. "Two hours it took them to get the tow truck there to get my quad out. It is ridiculous."

After his son was arrested Cooper said he took the pickup back to his property and got a shovel with the intent of digging the ATV out. He was rebuffed and the vehicle was towed. He also said his son was just talking to the officer and he was not being difficult until he was suddenly arrested.

Cooper said he wanted to open up the sidewalk so seniors in the neighbouring Ironwood Pointe complex would be able to get to St. Albert Centre without walking on the road.

"They never gave me any problems with that before. We weren't out to make trouble, we were just doing a neighbourly deed."

Kading said good intentions are fine, but they can go awry quickly and the RCMP has to look out for people's safety. She said people are encouraged to help their neighbours, but through means that fall within the law.

"We recognized that there was a lot of snow to be moved, but people do have to understand that if they are choosing something illegal they are taking a risk," she said. "We don't want anything to happen where somebody gets hurt because of good intentions."

Cooper brought his concerns about the arrest and the incident to police on Monday and Kading said based on those concerns there will be a review. Whether it is done internally or using an outside agency will be up to the detachment commander, she said.

Changes needed

Cooper said he believes the bylaw needs to be changed to have some exemption for people who are using their vehicles to clear a path.

"Why not change the bylaw and allow quads to help out in emergency situations, if you have a plow on your quad when it is heavy snow conditions," he said. "They could put a little amendment on the bylaw, because this is ridiculous."

Mayor Nolan Crouse said he received several comments about the issue following the weekend storm and he believes there needs to be a change.

"You can't have a bylaw that stops people from helping people."

Crouse said he thought it was great that across the city people helped their neighbours during the storm and he would like to see some sort of formal snow angel program put into place.

"The fact that we have people in our community who are helping each other needs to be reinforced as being positive," he said. "All throughout the city we had quads and snowblowers and neighbours helping neighbours."

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