It is official. The Ottawa police have failed my mom and I am not going to be quiet about it anymore. Some of you may remember the post I did in July titled “So Angry“. If not, or if you don’t want to go read it, to sum it up: my mom was beat up in the elevator of her apartment building. The police were called and no charges were laid that night. My mom was told to go in the next week to press charges. On August 3rd in a random post I updated everyone saying “Speaking of my mom. Charges have now been laid against the woman who attacked her and the building is going to start the ball rolling on evicting her. Other than that no updates to report.” It ends up I lied.
When mom went to the police after everything happened they told her they would go arrest the woman that night. My mom asked for a restraining order as well but she was told not to bother getting one as once the woman was arrested her bail conditions would keep her away from mom. My mom went to the building office with this information and they said as soon as charges were laid they would start the process to evict the woman. Well it ends up they never did go arrest the woman.
My mom got a call about 2 weeks ago as she was heading to my sister from the police. They said they would call her back in 10 days. I am not sure who called who but today my mom talked to the police. If you did read my So Angry post I mentioned my mom is disabled. She can’t carry a bottle of pop from the store a block away, she can only play with Little Man in very short spurts using her arms and when she walks her 2 dogs (which combined weight about 15 pounds) it takes 2 hours for the pain to go away. Many times her friends will walk her dogs for her to save her the pain. The day this woman attacked my mom was the day my mom lost a piece of herself. She no longer feels safe and like she can defend herself because on that day she couldn’t. My mom is no longer mentally the woman she was. She has spent so many hours crying because the police are failing her and because she lost a piece of herself that day.
Sorry I am all over the place here. As I was saying she spoke with the police today. Every step of the way they have been trying to talk my mom out of pressing charges saying it is a “he said, she said” situation and would get no where in the courts. My mom didn’t care. The police had pictures and my mom wanted and deserves her day in court. This would also give my mom access to Victim Services which I believe she needs. Well today the police told her out right they are not charging the woman. The woman is claiming my mom pushed her and she lost her balance and that is how my mom got the scratch on her face. OK well please explain then the cut on moms nose from the womans ring, the bleeding noise my mom had and the swollen and bruised cheek and jaw. They are also claiming that this woman is telling them that she is scared of my mom. Seriously!! Again my mom couldn’t even defend herself. The cop my mom talked to today which was one of many who have tried to talk her out of pressing charges basically told her that was it and there was nothing he could do for her. Guess what he did next. Before my mom could even get a word out of her mouth he hung up on her. Are you kidding me?
So I guess it is OK to beat people up as long as there is no witness except your own boyfriend who of course will lie for you. I guess while Housing claims to be doing it’s best to keep it’s areas clean they have a losing battle because the police don’t have their back. Oh wait the police did tell my mom there better not be any retaliation so I guess my mom has been warned and she will be charged if anything happened to this women. Hey cops no worries, remember my mother couldn’t even defend herself let alone attack the woman.
This is not the end. My mom is defeated. She has lost all faith and figures what is the point in fighting anymore when every cop she talks to won’t do anything. I told her to lodge a complaint and she cried telling me there is no point. Well then mom, I will do it. I may not get anywhere, but I am not ready to lie down yet. It makes no sense to me that they will not do anything. They won’t even let my mom have her day in court, maybe she would get a little piece of herself back, but we will never know.