DRUG CHARGE DISMISSED

Suspect's Charter Rights Violated, Judge Says

An improper police search resulted in a woman's drug charge being thrown out of court yesterday, even though cops found cocaine, a crack pipe and a constantly ringing cell phone in the car she was driving.  Winnipeg resident Carrie Dawn Coutu was acquitted of one charge of possessing cocaine yesterday when a Queen's Bench justice ruled her Charter rights were violated during a traffic stop on Jan.  8, 2002.

Coutu's lawyer said the ruling represents a serious victory for his client.

"My client was a victim of abuse of police power," said defence lawyer Martin Glazer.  "The courts have served as a safeguard against that."

In a voir dire held to determine whether the Crown's evidence was admissible, court heard how Coutu was pulled over when police noticed the two-door Cutlass she was driving had a flat tire.

The officers asked her to produce her licence and then noticed a cellphone inside her purse was continually ringing or buzzing.

Suspicious, the officers asked her to exit the vehicle so they could verify her identity.

Coutu denied the purse belonged to her and then emptied $150 out of her pockets when police asked her to.

She then told the cops to bring the purse and her wallet from the car, which is when they discovered a glass crack pipe and a pink box containing one gram of cocaine, court heard.

"Give it to me, it's mine.  You got no right to take my stuff," Coutu reportedly said when asked by officers if the purse belonged to her.

When questioned in court, Coutu admitted she initially gave the officers a false name and the crack pipe in the car was hers.  She also said she'd been "harassed" by police in the weeks leading up to the incident and was pulled over repeatedly for unspecified reasons.

UNRELIABLE WITNESS

In a written ruling released yesterday, Queen's Bench Justice Wesley Swail found Coutu was an unreliable witness but also found the arresting officers had difficulty remembering exactly how the events unfolded.

Swail found the cops were justified in stopping her car and asking her to exit the vehicle when she couldn't produce a licence.

But he also found the officers were wrong to ask her to empty her pockets, in asking her where she got the $150 and in failing to advise her of her right to remain silent when she was charged with failing to produce the licence.

Swail refused to admit as evidence the fact Coutu asked the police to get her purse from the car, since she hadn't been properly advised of why she was being detained.  The search of her purse and her car was conducted without a warrant, he ruled, resulting in the evidence being inadmissible.