A YouTube video of a Vancouver police sergeant, who smashed a motorist’s window, has raised questions about the rights drivers have when they are pulled over by police.
The testy exchange caught on video shows the unidentified driver opening his window just a crack and infuriating the police officer by not stepping out of the vehicle when he was told to do so.
No justification for police behaviour: Legal expert
A B.C. criminal lawyer who specializes in impaired driving says the police violated the driver’s rights by failing, at least in the video, to tell the driver why he was pulled over.
“You can’t blame this individual for it. He’s being polite and co-operative. You can blame the police for their attitude,” says Paul Doroshenko. “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 said drivers are not obligated to open their windows when asked by police, but they do have an obligation to pull over if signalled to do so and provide a driver’s license through a cracked window.
“Ultimately what they do is, in my view, an unlawful arrest, smashing his window, destroying his property and it looks like a violent arrest.”