Hello readers,

Updated, 9 years later!

I have completed three “clashes” with police officers, who assumed I was inebriated, chugging Gordon’s Gin from a water bottle, while walking an un-straight line, ignoring all the calls to stop, to talk to them.

However, the straight facts are: I am ataxic, I am a person with ataxia, and I am DeafBlind.

Check out The Police File and Mall Showdown for deets…

Between the 1980’s and 2009, when the following encounter happened, I am sure police accused me of drunkedness, but I none of them stick to memory…

In 2009, I was living in Toronto, married to the most awesomest of wives, with a 27 month old son.

(BTW, that kid is now 19!)

Dad & Son, on the day of this story, left west Toronto for a their first fun-filled day at George Brown College’s Intervenor Program’s Open House in east Toronto. The college is on King Street East, about 5 blocks from Yonge Street.

Dad & Son arrived early, stayed all day, had a great time of fun, eating, chatting, meeting old friends and making new ones, changing diapers, and all that jazz!

By the time we were ready to leave, Dad & Son were both exhausted.

(A word, my balance and movements were progressing into chaos, but at the time, I was still unaware of the CAPOS syndrome. In other words, I didn’t know I had ataxia in 2009.)

So, we leave GBC, heading west on King Street walking toward Yonge, we crossed the first intersection, George Street, and veer right. We are heading north, taking a different way to the Queen Street Subway station, where Dad & Son will become Dad, Mom & Son.

My son is now dozing happily in his cozy stroller, I’ve popped a can of Coke Zero, or maybe it was a bigger can of Iced Tea, I can’t remember, it in the parent cupholder by my right hand. I chug on it a few times as I walk north.

I’m tired, remember, I’m not paying particularly good attention to where I’m heading, just heading north. Oh, yes, with my tiredness, I’m pretty sure I was doing some weaving or staggering, not keeping a straight line.

We are rolling north, on the west side of George street, when suddenly our way is interrupted by a tall fence; one of those that you’d find surrounding construction sites everywhere, but it is open, did someone leave it ajar?

Unsure, and unwilling to walk all the way back to King St., I wasn’t going to jaywalk with a toddler. So I took a gander; to my left was a recently completed housing project, a sidewalk was visible, but the fence protruded out to the street. I couldn’t see anyone, no crew, no safety monitors, no one. There was also no “do not cross” signage.

So I assume the point of the fence was to protect the citizens from traffic.

With that concept swimming in my exhausted mind, I maneuver the stroller inside the fence, walking north to Richmond Street. I’m maybe 6 feet from the actual building project, walking in the gutter, the fence is protecting us from traffic.

At the corner, the fence turns, so do I, and then I spot a gap, and exit the fenced world, I’m on the sidewalk, I’m pretty sure I’ve finished my Iced Tea, and the boy is now sleeping deeply.

All is well…

Ten minutes later, we are now on Church Street, passing the historical St. James Cathedral, we are still heading north, I can’t recall what I was thinking, but after the full day, I doubt I could add 8 to 13 without a calculator.

Soon after passing most of the church, I happened to glance towards the street and spotted a police cruiser cruising next to me in the street.

The passenger window is down, I look in and see him leaning over, while maintaining a snails pace, he is saying something, his mouth is moving. I keep walking, ignoring the fuzz seems like a good idea, as I’m fuzzy with exhaustion anyways.

Now the cop stops his cruiser, comes up to me as I’m still walking, I guess he gets in front of me and the stroller, the boy remains asleep.

He is obviously trying to converse with me, I finally un-fuzz my brain; gesturing “Deaf” by taping my ear. I’ve got a pad of paper and a sharpie, handing them to the cop, who writes…

“Have you been drinking?”

Immediately, I flashback to rural Maple Ridge, remembering the humiliation of being a tough kid, smoking my B&H Gold, but I’m not that kid anymore, I have responsibilities, I have a son.

So, I give this constable a full blast of my stinky breath, “Not today!”, and let the cards fall where they may.

Those cards sure fell, the cop was able to discern not a drop of alcohol on my breath, held up the Iced Tea can; case solved, the verdict, false alarm. He’s about to get in his cruiser, gonna find some real criminals…

That is, until my adrenaline kicks into high gear…

‘What the hell just happened?!’ my brain screamed at me, ‘Why the hell did this cop approach me in the first place? What did do? You get his name and police number! Sue his damn ass! How dare you stand there like a fool, do something!’

So, I put on my angry pants and challenge the cop, writing on my pad things like “You have no right to approach me…” and “What is your name and badge number…” and “This is my son…” and “Your shoe is untied…” and “Who the hell are you?”

He actually called a backup!

But in the end, 20 minutes later, I got his name and badge number, he got my wife’s phone number and a poopy diaper!

My boy was awake now, I can tell he was a concerned, at 27 months, about his crazy daddy!

Dad & Son left, the cops left, peace was restored. But Dad was fuming, planning to sue…

We met the wife there was hugging and greetings, I told her what happened… then she informs me she just spoke to the Officer, who explained to her what happened:

Someone had called the Police to report a drunk person in a restricted construction site with a baby in a stroller.

The sentence, that report, covers every disability I have:

– Someone saw me stagger, walk jerkily, undiagnosed ataxia.

– Someone most likely called out to me, Deafness.

– Someone probably waved or tried to get my attention, low vision.

That someone was most likely inside the new housing project, they were yelling at me from above.

Naturally they assumed, judged really, that I was drunk and endangering the life of a child.

If I had that person’s name, I would have sued their ass off! How dare they judge me!

Luckily, I just thought of that now, in 2026, too late to do anything!

The Officer apologized for approaching me, for judging me himself.

Thanks for reading!