Winnipeg woman seeks apology from police for aiming guns at her while searching for stolen vehicle

A Winnipeg transit driver says she is traumatized after she was surrounded by multiple police officers pointing guns at her near her North End home because they mistakenly thought she was driving a stolen truck.

The incident has left her wanting an apology from Winnipeg police.

On Dec. 27, Karen Robson, 54, had just finished her shift and was driving home in her father's 2011 Silverado pickup truckaround 1:30 a.m. when she noticed a black vehicle was following her.

It wasn't until she was almost home and parking the truck on the side street that she realized the vehicle was actually an unmarked police car.

"When I first noticed that vehicle following me, I was going to call the police. And then I realized, I can't call the police they were the police and there is nobody to help me," Robson said.

"Suddenly I was surrounded by police. It was like they all converged on me."

Police shouting with guns pointed, Robson says

As she looked around, she said multiple officers had guns pointed at her and began to shout at her to get out of the car.

"That was really, really scary. I'm thinking I'm going to get shot," Robson said.

That's when she started to hear from the officers there had been a carjacking of a vehicle that matched the description of her father's.

Robson said one of the officers made a hand gesture that she mistook as him asking her to back up. She put the truck in reverse and then felt the police car behind her ram into the back of the truck.

"I didn't know what was going on because this has never happened to me before," she said.

Robson began pleading with the officers that they had the wrong person, pointing at the transit uniform she was still wearing.

"That should have been a red flag for them," she said.

Police insisted she get out of the truck. When she got out, a female officer began searching her and going through her pockets.

Her hands were cuffed behind her back and they were taking her to the back of the car, when the mood suddenly changed.

"All the tensionjust went poof, gone," she said.

"They finally said I was free to go without much of an explanation, other than it was something to do with a carjacking."

The experience left Robson shaken and feeling like she can no longer trust police.

She has filed a complaint with Manitoba's Law Enforcement Review Agency, which investigates public complaints of police misconduct.

Winnipeg Police Service will not comment

Winnipeg police were unable to answer any questions surrounding what happened to Robson, citing the LERA complaint.

Police also said they cannot comment on whether there was a carjacking in the area on that night in December or give a description.

There was no media release relating to a carjacking during the week of the incident.

After the incident, Robson said no one ever apologized to her. She got a call from a supervisor, who she said gave her little details about why she was targeted by police.

According to Manitoba Public Insurance, Silverados are one of the most popular trucks in Manitoba, with tens of thousands on the road. It is also one of its most commonly stolen vehicles.

She feels she was targeted because she was an Indigenous woman driving a truck late at night in the North End.

"That's the only conclusion I could cometo," she said.

Robson is Indigenous, but doesn't know where her birth mother is from because she was adopted when she was three years old.

Begs a 'lot of questions': police expert

Steven Summerville, a former Toronto police officer and an expert on use of force, reviewed what happened to Robson and said it likely shows she got caught up in what police call a "high-risk vehicle takedown."

He described it as a situation where police draw their guns because they are anticipating arresting someone.

"It's appropriate or reasonable to pull a firearm when your life or the life of another is at risk," he said in an interview.

"Or you feel that the person's committed a crime, or subjects have committed a crime, within the vehicle."

However, he said given Robson's description of the events and how confused she was by the situation, it "really begs an awful lot of questions."

He said he would want to know what information police had that made officers think Robson's truck was involved and why they saw it as a situation where they might have to use lethal force.

"In this case, she did nothing wrong from what information we have," Summerville said.

"Literally driving home after work and she had a life-changing event occur to her."

Robson's LERA complaint will be passed on to an investigator with the agency and then its commissioner will decide what further action will be taken.

The complaint could be dismissed, informally resolved, the officer can admit to misconductor it can be referred to a provincial judge for a public hearing.

According to the most recent publicly available data, 153 files were opened in 2019 and the vast majority of complaints were either dismissed by the agency or abandoned by the complainant.

Winnipeg woman wants apology from police after terrifying incident

3 years ago

Duration 2:35

A Winnipeg transit driver wants answers after police mistakenly thought she was driving a stolen truck an experience that left her fearing for her life.