Police brutality alleged (CHBC VIDEO) Enderby

. -VideoWeb posted on Tuesday, 19 June 2007 CHBC VIDEO

With bruises as evidence, this grandma is complaining police are to blame.

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Police arrest leaves elderly woman cut, bruised

David Wylie, CanWest News Service: Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Canada.com

An elderly B.C. woman is planning to file a complaint after she was cut and bruised during a violent arrest - but the police said she was the one who went down swinging. Ulah Gregersen, 76, said she was too sore to speak Monday. But her husband, Arne, said a female RCMP officer tried to break up a party Friday near their home in Enderby, about 75 kilometres north of Kelowna. When police arrived to arrest some of the six youths for drinking, Ulah went to check on her granddaughter, said Arne, 72. "The cop started harassing her," said Arne. "She shook her finger in my wife's face and my wife grabbed her finger."Arne said the officer threw his wife against a tree and threatened to arrest her. But the elderly woman slipped away and retreated home with her walker.The officer pursued, telling Ulah to stop because she was under arrest. Ulah made it home, but several officers burst inside shortly after, said the woman's husband. "She got pushed off the chair and onto the floor. That (female) cop was lying on top of her on the floor. She was trying to put handcuffs on my wife," said Arne.

North Okanagan RCMP spokesman Cpl. Henry Proce said the officer had her hands full with the youths when the couple showed up. "They were very, very obstructive. She was challenging their authority and said, 'Leave the kids alone, they've done nothing wrong,'" he said. "In her residence she refused to comply with police demands. Our member was faced with a very violent situation," said Proce, adding the elderly woman fought back fiercely. She has since been charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer. Arne said he'll be making a formal complaint against police today. "I'm not going to let it die down."