CTV News Montreal

Updated: Sat May. 16 2009 6:23:01 PM

ctvmontreal.ca

A woman is outraged after she was handcuffed and ticketed for not holding the handrail on an escalator at the Montmorency metro station.

Bela Kosoian, a 38-year-old UQAM international law student, said she was on her way to class Wednesday, when she was stopped by Laval police.

"I was looking for money to buy metro tickets," said Kosoian.

Laval police Const. Nathalie Lorrain told CTV Montreal's Daniele Hamamdjian that Kosoian became aggressive when she was asked to hold the handrail.

"When they told her to be careful, she turned around and she started screaming at them, telling them she wouldn't use the rail," said Lorrain.

Lorrain added Kosoian was repeatedly warned that she would be given a ticket if she continued to resist holding onto the handrail.

"The police officers told me she probably had a bad day. She jumped in their faces right away," Lorrain said.

Kosoian countered it was never made clear that she was breaking any rules.

"They didn't tell me anything," she said.

When they reached the bottom of the escalator, she was taken into a detention room.

"I was always with handcuffs -- like a prisoner, like a criminal," said Kososian.

She was fined $420 -- $100 for not holding the banister, and $320 for obstruction.

STM bylaw

There are stickers posted on the escalators at metro stations indicating that commuters must hold the handrail.

An STM bylaw states: "It is forbidden for all persons to disobey a directive or a pictogram posted by the Société."

But the STM said Kosoian is the first person to be ticketed for riding the escalator without holding the rail.

Kosoian said she intends to fight the fines.

Comments are now closed for this story

Marc-Andre Rousseau
Absolutely ridiculous. The police should issue an apology and retract this ticket.

Kashif
It's scary to think that we're in a recession, people are loosing their jobs....and undertrained STM security guards are being paid tax-payer money to behave like this and harrass the people paying their salaries.

Bob
According to her own words, this woman is the author of her own misfortune. Only $100 of the fine is for not holding on to the hand-rail, and she could have avoided that by complying with the lawful instructions of the peace officer. Instead, she chose to continue to put her own safety at risk, and that of those below her on the escalator. The $320 fine is for obstructing the peace officer in the performance of his/her duty. Yes indeed, the police have more important tasks, and the people who keep them from those tasks should pay the price for their deliberately obstructive behaviour. In this case, that will be $320 please.

franny
I don't blame her for holding the hand rail.... who does? Especially in this day and age with the swine flu and people not having good hygiene.! If you're going to ticket people for not holding on to the hand rail, then there should be some sort of anti-bacterial agent at the end of your ride to cleanse your hands with

God's Servant
In Nova Scotia, they're fining people now for not having their headlights on during the day. This is getting really ridiculous. How many accidents have been from not having your headlights on during the day? This is no longer about "serving and protecting" This is simply a new means of generating revenue for the Corporate Canadian Government. They must be getting desperate for money, but are using other means, besides raising taxes to look bad, to get the money. There are obviously things we are not being told.

Just Saying...
"The comment of Russia is a sad reminder of the sterotypical ignorance of North America"

Do you not notice that you are being sterotypical yourself with that comment? Since we're throwing around words...that my friend makes you a hypocrite

S D
One long steep escalator. Designed to save money at the expense of safety. If you fall god help you. why not design whole thing safe to start with. Make the escalator system in multiple stages. Imagine if you have baby in the stroller and you have to take this escalator to go down to the metro.

Arashi O
I think it is excessive and power-tripping to give 420$ fine. The rent-a-cop, should have given a warning, and if person got violent, then slap on the fine. However, the reason why there are stickers advising ppl to hold on to the rail is simple: in the event something happens, and ANYONE pushing the emergency halt button, the escalator comes to an abrupt stop. This said, those that are not already grabbing onto the rail, might not be able to catch it in time, and fall forward, potentially hurting/killing the fellow commuters down below, depending of how far up they are falling from the escalator. Common sense ppl!

Public nuisance is less important than public welfare/security.

Ps. The comment of Russia is a sad reminder of the sterotypical ignorance of North America.

Nathalie
This is the stupidest and most ridiculous thing that I ever heard of. The Police really have nothing better to do, before they go out and catch people who are doing crimes in this place,they're looking for people who are not holding a handrail. What is next we get tickets for not walking our dogs with a leash? This world is so messed up. They are coming up with the most stupidest laws ever.

Marie
Must of been a slow day on the crime front....The Laval police should be ashamed of themselves. Even if she became agitated like they say...handcuffed?...ticketed??? Get real people!

Joe
Well "Jean Guy" my guess is that the poster is from Russia... Not too difficult to comprehend there is a whole world outside of QC..

Jean-Guy Rivard
Not sure why there's mention of Russia. The reason the bylaw is there to avoid any sue-happy people from attacking the STM over accidents on escalators. Agreed it was probably a bit much, but since we don't know the whole story it's easy to say it was too much. If she became aggressive, then Laval police was correct in restraining her. If not, it was overacting on their part.

Greg
This story shows how messed up this world is.

Costas D
Wow, is this how ridiculous this world is becoming, where we don't believe adults have had enough practice riding escalators to trust them to decide on their own if they're capable of riding without holding the railing? This is just another example of a quick cash grab, and then people wonder why officers lose more and more respect by the day. Was this woman such a threat to society that she needed to be detained and handcuffed?

That day must have been a nice trip down memory lane to back in the USSR, comrad.

Bill O'Malley
If I didn't see it for myself on your newscast, I would have thought it was an April Fools joke.
Stupidity at the STM is rampant and all of those responsible for passing an unhealthy directive should be fired and banned to Russia.