"I was terrified," said Mrs. Kuehn, who spent Saturday night at the detention centre in southern Georgia after she was taken into custody following the traffic stop outside a restaurant along the I-95 near Brunswick, Georgia.
"I don't think it's a very humane way to treat someone who had not committed a crime, or even been accused of committing a crime," said Mrs. Kuehn, adding the "unjust" treatment she received in the Georgia jail was completely uncalled for.
But officials with the Georgia state police and Glynn County Detention Center, where Mrs. Kuehn was being held, said they were just following procedure when someone from another country is stopped for speeding or other traffic violations -- no matter how minor they might seem.
That procedure, they said, includes holding Canadians, including those carrying a valid passport like Mrs. Kuehn, or other "foreign nationals," in custody until the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency confirms they are legally allowed to be in the country.
"I'm not a terrorist. I'm a blond, petite woman from Canada, trying to go to Florida to celebrate graduating my masters in social work," said Mrs. Kuehn, who handed in her last paper Thursday. "They knew I was a tourist from Canada. They were treating me like an (illegal) immigrant."
Mrs. Kuehn, who was driving to Florida to visit her in-laws with her husband, Scott Kuehn, 24, brother-in-law Michael Kuehn and friend Dan-Que Pham, said her ordeal began when she was attempting to leave the highway to stop for dinner at about 5:20 p.m. Saturday.
Taking the wrong exit, Mrs. Kuehn said she made a U-turn before pulling the black Volvo station wagon into the restaurant parking lot.
That's when she heard a voice over a loudspeaker, ordering her not to park the car. Seeing the flashing emergency lights and realizing it was a police officer, she pulled over.
A Georgia state trooper told her he was giving her citations for going 55 miles an hour in a 35 zone and failing to stop at a stop sign. But instead of writing a ticket, the officer told her she had to post a bond before she could resume her trip.
As she broke down in tears, Mrs. Kuehn said the officer threatened to handcuff her if she didn't get in the back seat of his cruiser for the trip to what she thought would be the area police station.
Instead, she was driven to the detention centre where she spent the next 11 difficult hours separated from her husband, even though he collected the $222 U.S. to post her bond within three hours of her arrest.
http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200704/20070410_CAN_Student_Jailed_Georgia.htm
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 12, 2007]
Note: http://www.knowledgedri...
Jailed For Traffic Violation
Posted on Wednesday, April 11 at 14:09 by RuralContributed By
Topic
Article Rating
(0 votes)
Options
Stumble It!Comments
view comments in forum
Page 1 2
Now, what to do when you LIVE in one of those blasted countries???
---
"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."
* George Bu
<br />
Second point "Mrs. Kuehn said she was never read her rights and jail officials offered little in the way of explanation about what was happening to her". <br />
<br />
If you are not an American citizen then you have no rights legally or otherwise in the U.S.A. Canada under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives anyone on Canadian soil rights. So maybe Canadians should think a little harder about staying and traveling in Canada where they have some legal recourse.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=73142bcf-f41c-483c-9737-f7e565c36cc4&k=87106">http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=73142bcf-f41c-483c-9737-f7e565c36cc4&k=87106</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=de12bde1-a74c-408b-b555-52ecb48cfc7c&k=17270">http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=de12bde1-a74c-408b-b555-52ecb48cfc7c&k=17270</a><br />
<p>---<br>Perception is two thirds of what we perceive reality to be.<br />
<br />
Difficult decisions are a privilege of rank.<br />
My understanding (which is admittedly very weak at the moment) is that there are treaties between the US and Canada that supposedly do assign at least some rights when on American soil. If I'm not mistaken, the US Constitution must have assigned at least some rights to non citizens while on American soil, at least before the constitution was torn up by Bush and his cronies. Unfortunately I just don't know what those rights are or even if my understanding is correct.
You are correct that the Canadian Charter assigns rights to anyone when on Canadian soil, however there are some clauses that only apply to Canadian citizens, these clauses are spelled out in the Charter and seem to be reasonable limits.
Unfortunately our Charter does not actually guarantee that anyone including Canadian citizens have any rights at all - it's all based on a twist of words. In reality the Charter has at least 4 different ways to nullify clauses in the Charter. One is to justify Charter violations based on a ruling by the Supreme court, another is through a time of war, insurrection, or invasion, another is through an Act of Parliament that overrides the Charter for 5 years (but may be renewed indefinitely (the anti-terrorism legislation failed to be renewed), another is simply by ignoring the Charter until a challenge is made through the Supreme Court, such challenges can cost millions and take up to 10 years to resolve, which effectively nullifies the entire Charter in practical terms.
The good news is that even though the Charter is weak, it at least cannot be completely ignored without raising enough eyebrows to cause a significant backlash.
I am amazed however, the the American people have sat by grazing grass while their constitution was torn up and shredded right before their eyes. The same thing is happening here. There's a case going on right now where an Ontario man is accused of assisting alleged terrorists, that is he is accused of assisting people with carrying out criminal acts, but these people have not yet been proven in a court of law to be criminals! (it's mind boggling) Worse, the government wants to make use of secret evidence that the defense cannot ever see or challenge, which is in direct violation of sections 7 through 11 *and* the anti-terrorism act has been rendered legally invalid, yet we still have this case underway.
Of course there's almost no media coverage of the situation despite its importance.
---
Everybody got to deviate from the norm
Unless I miss my guess B.C. and Alberta are part f Canada while the USA is an entirely different country.
hehehe
---
"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."
* George Bu
---
Expect little from life and get more from it.
While in Thailand, be sure not to spray paint pictures of the King. Or, don't go to Thailand. It's really quite easy to avoid 10 years in a Thai jail.
It's no excuse to treat someone this way for running a stop sign, but as the article points out; Georgia police have always been a little extreme.
---
The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.
---
Everybody got to deviate from the norm
ourselves
in the long run, would be to stop visiting the U.S. Only when tourism etc is
affected will the business people get the message. If we say clearly I don't feel
safe in your country because of your laws or lack of protection for people, if
enough Canadians would say it, then we might see results. Right now people
are
simply doing whatever is required and putting up with all the searches,
fingerprinting and so on. I have no intentions of entering the U.S. It is not a
country that I feel would be welcoming or that I could feel safe at the present
time. Years ago yes, I had no anxiety, but today it is very different. I have
received invitations to go to various conferences etc and respectfully decline
because of the political climate.
I have no desire or use for a passport, or other i.d. , on the pretext of
security, to make someone else feel safe while I give up my security and
freedom.
---
"aaaah and the whisper of thousands of tiny voices became a mighty deafening roar and they called it 'freedom'!"' Canadians Acting Humanely at home & everywhere
---
"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
—Sir Josiah Stamp