Pubdate: Thu, 14 Mar 2013
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Authors: Meghan Hurley and Derek Spalding
Page: C3

POLICE SETTLE SUIT OVER SKUNK-SMELL RAID

A Gatineau man says he forgives police for busting into his home 
after mistaking the smell of a dead skunk for a marijuana growing operation.

Gatineau police have settled with a family who sued them after 
officers surrounded the rural home on Jan. 6, 2011, with several 
police vehicles and broke into the home with guns drawn.

Mariane Leduc, the Gatineau police director of communications, 
confirmed on Wednesday that the lawsuit filed by the family was 
settled with homeowner Oliver MacQuat out of court but wouldn't 
provide any more details. MacQuat, who still lives at 1331 Montee 
Paiement, said he is obligated by the terms of the settlement to not 
disclose the amount of money his family received.

"It was a nightmare to be quite frank," he said Wednesday. "You're 
coming home, you've never done anything criminally wrong in your 
life, and your house is surrounded with police running all over the 
place with handguns and shotguns."

MacQuat, who had just returned home from his automotive repair shop 
in Hull, noticed a minivan parked at a water bottling plant close to 
his house. He was later informed the van was a surveillance team 
alerting police he was home.

He turned on the television and saw about "15 to 20" vehicles outside 
his home with flashing lights. Then came the pounding on his front 
door. MacQuat was greeted by several officers with Gatineau police 
and Surete du Quebec with their guns drawn when he opened the door.

MacQuat's son, Emilio, 18, arrived a short while later. His wife and 
daughter were not there.

"It was a very upsetting experience. Staring down the barrel of 
handguns is a very unsettling," he said. "It took the better part of 
a year to get my head around what had gone on."

The officers told MacQuat they had a warrant to search his home, 
which they did while he was handcuffed and made to sit on a stool.

MacQuat said in an interview days after the raid that he told 
officers the smell was a skunk, but they proceeded to search his 
home, workshop and a small building at the end of the lane, where he 
believed the skunk lived.

The skunk smell began to emanate from the small building the weekend 
before when the weather had warmed up.

About 30 to 40 minutes after police arrived, a senior officer told 
the police on the scene that the place was clean and that the smell 
was indeed a skunk.

Despite what MacQuat described as a "terrifying experience," he said 
the officers were professional and even wiped off their boots before 
entering. One officer at the time, said we'll all laugh at this 
someday, MacQuat recalled on Wednesday.

"I have forgiven the officers involved," he said. "It was a mistake 
as far as I've come to learn, and it was a mistake they realize as 
well. They have corrected how they did things."

The entire family couldn't sleep for 48 hours after the ordeal.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom