Police are pushing for charges against an Enderby senior for assaulting a police officer during an incident over the weekend. However, the 76-year-old woman said she will be filing a complaint against police officers after she received a cut and extensive bruising as police struggled to arrest her. According to RCMP spokesman Cpl. Henry Proce, a female officer “had her hands full” trying to arrest three youths in a group of six or seven who had been drinking in a small park in Enderby. Ulah Gregersen used her walker to make her way down to where the arrests were being made and confronted the officer for harassing the youths. Gregersen‘s granddaughter was among the group of youths but was not arrested. “They weren‘t being loud or anything,” said Arne Gregersen, Ulah‘s husband, “There was no need to give the kids trouble.” A verbal confrontation ensued between the officer and Ulah Gregersen who continuously “challenged police authority”, according to Proce. According to Arne, the officer was being very rude to his wife and when “she shook her finger in my wife‘s face, (Ulah) grabbed it.” “From there on it just escalated,” said Arne. Proce said that Ulah bent the officer‘s fingers back, and continued to verbally threaten the officer. At this point “the situation was deteriorating rapidly” as a small crowd that had gathered “took sides against the police” Proce said.
By this time Ulah had gone back inside her residence where the physical struggle to arrest her eventually involved as many as four officers. “She was fighting hard, rolling on the floor and kicking and screaming,” said Proce. According to Arne, the original female officer was the one being too violent and unreasonable. “(The female officer) was still fighting my wife and finally one of the other guys said ’Back off, she doesn‘t need to be cuffed‘,” said Arne, “I wouldn‘t be surprised if my wife could have died, she does have some health problems.” After being taken to the Enderby cells and examined by medical staff, Ulah was released. Police are recommending she be given two charges of assaulting a police officer, one for the finger bending and another for biting. However, Arne said that there has been no shortage of offers to help the Gregersens. “We‘ve had lawyers calling saying that they want to help us file our complaint,” said Arne, “In my book, you don‘t treat seniors like that.”
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