Complaint filed about off-duty RCMP officer who arrested woman with intellectual delay
CBC
A review is underway of the actions of an RCMP officer who arrested an intellectually delayed woman and removed her from a mental health social centre, while off duty and in a different police jurisdiction.
The woman, 34, has a seizure disorder, autism, and intellectual and cognitive impairments.
CBC News is not identifying her to protect her privacy.
“She enjoys things that a child would enjoy. So dolls — she likes to play with dolls. She believes in Santa Claus,” said Melanie Byrne, her caregiver, in a recent interview.
The woman has been part of Byrne’s family for decades, but Byrne and her husband began caring for her in their home in 2019.
“Her conversation wouldn't be the same as an adult conversation. She talks about things that would be of interest to a child as opposed to an adult.”
Byrne believes that distinction is important, because it should have changed the way she says RCMP Const. David Banko handled the woman last winter.
Eight months after the incident, Byrne says the once happy, social woman hasn’t been the same.
Byrne says she wants an apology, accountability and change, in the wake of what happened that day.
On March 21, the woman and her respite worker, Nicole Gulliver, went to the Pottle Centre, an adult social and recreation non-profit organization for people living with mental illness and addictions, in downtown St. John’s.
Byrne says the woman was on the computer trying to make an account for Roblox, an online game, and didn’t want to leave. But the centre was closing at 4 p.m. and the GoBus was coming to pick her up.
By 15 minutes before closing, Byrne says it was clear that the woman didn’t want to leave. She says she instructed Gulliver to ask a staff member to encourage her to leave.
With that, Byrne says, a staff member at the Pottle Centre powered off the computer, adding to the woman’s agitation.
Byrne says she told Gulliver to call 811 and request the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s mental health crisis unit, which consists of a mental health clinician and a plain-clothed officer trained in crisis intervention.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
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