Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 22, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press tuesday August 22, 2006 winnipegfreepress.coma3 top news judge raps police raid tactics woman acted As own lawyer to Challenge mistreatment by Bruce Owen a woman who protested police mistreatment during a botched raid on her family a Home has won her Challenge. Sandra Hor ski a complaint resulted in a judge recommending yesterday that police chief Jack Swatski remind his officers to Grant innocent people the same rights As criminals. It appears that the police believe charter of rights and freedoms rights Are Only to be afforded to those they suspect of criminal activity provincial court judge Marva Smith said in a 27?page decision released under the Law enforcement review act. Hor ski who acted As her own lawyer during the lera hearing said we Don to want this happening to any one else. We could to understand How this could happen in she said she and her family have been emotionally scarred by the trauma of police barging into their Home. The horrified look on her Young sons face kept her motivated to hit the Law books until the wee hours of the morn ing throughout the complaint hearing. She said her son suffered a big blow to his self esteem from the incident and the entire family changed How they lived their lives. Although Hor ski said they became closer As a family the police ruined their lives and the past three years have been extremely difficult to get through. Despite the Challenge in acting As her own lawyer Hor ski said she never once thought of dropping the Case. When it comes to an innocent family wrongly targeted by police Hor ski offered a textbook perfect example. It was almost three years ago when she her husband Walter cerros and their son Nicholas 9, were startled from their sleep by heavily armed police officers shouting at them through a Loudspeaker to leave their House one by one with hands up. Police had a warrant to search the Tol into a bathroom Wall. Police say the Atlantic Avenue House for a Black Long officer tripped on a carpet runner and barrelled seven millimetre handgun a fired accidentally. Leather Holster and 10 rounds of Ammu for two and a half hours police kept nation. Hor ski and Nicholas in the Back of the a confidential police source had told locked Cruiser car and told them next to investigators the gun was there but nothing of what was going on. Officers later Learned the source made the judge said yesterday police a mistake. Denied Hor ski and Nicholas the Basic police handcuffed cerros and put him right of calling a lawyer. In one police car. Hor ski and her son while the focus of police work is no were put in the Back seat of another. Doubt geared to detecting and App re to make a bad situation even worse Hending criminal wrongdoers police one officer fired his Glock service Pis do come into Contact with innocent Cit by Aldo Santin la Bro Querie ? Elsie Peters poked through the remains of her Home yesterday afternoon shaking her head in disbelief that she had survived a Torna do with Only a few bruises and scratches to show for it. Less than 24 hours after 200-kilome?tres-per-hour winds literally lifted the Walls and roof of her 2,000-Square-foot Home off its foundations and tossed them 50 Yards away in a Heap Peters 26, was still shaking at the recollection of her Brief yet horrendous ordeal. I was right there sitting on the floor when there was a loud bang and the Walls were gone Peters said pointing to the area of the Home where the Bath room used to be. I was crying saying Over and Over of god please Don to let me die Here like i a so thankful i a still environment Canada meteorologist Suzanne a amours said the Tornado appeared in this Rural and Bush area 73 Kilometres Southeast of Winnipeg with out warning just after 7 . We had issued a severe thunderstorm watch but we did to know there was a Tornado until after the report came in said a amours part of an environment Canada storm Survey team that went to the Peters farm to try and determine what happened and How severe the storm had been. A regional spokesperson for Environ ment Canada said the weather service cannot anticipate exactly when or where severe weather will break out. The ingredients were coming into place for severe weather in some place. That a usually the first Heads up for peo ple said Dale Marci ski. As the thunderstorms went along the warnings went with them. As soon As we get any information we act on the preliminary assessment of the Tor Nado indicates it was an f2 on the Fujita scale a Tornado measurement scale determined by meteorologists out of five which increases with the severity of the storm. While winds during an f2 Tornado Are Between 181 to 252 Kilometres per hour ? enough to rip roofs from the tops of buildings or Roll Over Mobile Homes ? its not the most severe Type of Tornado. Peters was taken to Hospital in nearby Steinbach sunday night. She was released and spent a sleepless night at the Home of her in Laws 11 Kilometres to the West. Peters said the storm lasted Only a couple of frightening minutes. I was so very scared. I was on the floor then the Walls were gone. I wanted to stand up but i could to because every thing was flying around me and Over my head. I wanted to run but i Peters husband Jim 37, was in a nearby Field baling Hay when the storm hit. It started raining so hard and so fast and then the wind came and then it started to Hail Peters said. He looked up and saw to the Southwest a funnel shaped Cloud bearing Down on him. He said he Dove under his tractor for cover and watched helplessly As the fun Nel Cloud moved straight for his 11-year?old Home. It lifted the Walls right off the con Crete foundation Peters said. I could it believe Peter said his immediate thought was for the safety of Elsie four months preg Zens and on occasion subject them to detention said Smith in her written ruling. It is ironic indeed if on the ground and at Street level lesser rights Are provided to the apparently innocent than to those suspected of the judge also criticized police for being discourteous by not offering the family a place away from Neighbours stares or even a trip to a bathroom. They should have taken Steps to reassure the child and offered to take the boy and his Mother somewhere to get something to eat or drink and made sure a bathroom was available Smith said. They were not handling any other duties at the same time that they were dealing with is. Hor ski and her son. They had plenty of time on their hands. Indeed Given that this additional delay discharge of gun was entirely the result of the police mishap special consideration and apologies would have been appropriate.?. ? with files from Jen Skerritt Tornado survivor so thankful she a alive after scary ordeal Nant with their first child. I ran calling for Elsie and i found her there on the floor. She was of. I was shaking she was crying but she was a amours also said there were no other reports of a Tornado touching Down sunday evening adding its not certain where the funnel Cloud went after it destroyed the Peters Home. She said that by the extent of the damage the winds were moving at speeds up of to 200 Kilometres per hour. The storm was Strong enough to lift the House off its foundation push Jim Peters pickup truck 30 Yards and throw belong Ings and debris More than 400 metres from the Home yet tiny Elsie Peters remained essentially unharmed on the bathroom floor. Even a stack of 10 soup bowls which had been lying on the Patio outside the Homes front door before the storm hit were untouched by the winds. ;