Victoria must pay tethered teen $30,000

Friday, November 28, 2008

VICTORIA – Willow Kinloch has been granted half of the $60,000 she won in a lawsuit after being tethered in Victoria police cells, with the payment of the rest hinging on an appeal of her case by the City of Victoria.

The city had applied for a stay, or suspension, of payment until the appeal is heard, perhaps sometime next spring. But Justice Mary Saunders of the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that Kinloch is entitled to $30,000 now.

Kinloch’s case dates to 2005 when she was 15. A B.C. Supreme Court jury came up with the award earlier this year following a decision that officers had violated Kinloch’s charter rights.

Kinloch had been picked up by police in the downtown area for being drunk and was taken to police cells.

She spent about an hour screaming and banging on the walls before two officers tried to take her home to the apartment she shared with her mother.

The apartment intercom was broken and officers wouldn’t let Kinloch yell up to a window, so she was brought back to the police station. She did not want to return to a cell, and police described her as uncooperative. She ended up being bound at the ankles, tethered and left in the cell for four hours.

Kinloch is now in Thailand.

Here’s to hoping Ms. Kinloch is safe, given the unrest in Thailand at the moment.

See also:
The further education of Willow Kinloch
Victoria, BC citizenry to pay $60,000 to brutalized teen (includes video)

Smerom k poddanstvu

Explanation: The photo is of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, leader of the ruling SMER party. The word smer in Slovak means “direction” or “way”, and thus the name the party gives itself is an attempt cast itself as “the way”. One of the party’s slogans is “Smerom k ľuďom“, which means, roughly, “By means of SMER, unto the people”. What is being given “unto the people” is not specified. Poddanstvo means “serfdom” in the medieval sense, and also carries connotations like “bondage”, “servitude” and “slavery” — at least according to the dictionary definition.

One does wonder, a bit, as to in just what direction Mr. Fico is looking in the photograph.

Enjoy.