Tethered B.C. teen gets day in court

Victoria police have been accused of assault and unlawful confinement in a civil lawsuit that began on Tuesday, approximately three yearsafterthe teenager at the centre of the case was left handcuffed and tethered in a padded cell for three hours.

An eight-member jury watched a police video and heard testimony from Willow Kinloch, 17, the petite, 100-pound teen whowas 15 when she was arrested after drinking with friends in a Victoria park and taken to the drunk tank.

When Kinloch sobered up three hours later, police tried to take her home, but the buzzer system at the apartment building whereshe lived with her familywasn't working, she testified. It was 4 a.m., and the officers would not allow Kinloch to call up to her family's apartment from the street, she said.

Instead, they returned her to the cells at the police station. When Kinloch was asked to take off her shoes, she kicked one off, hitting jail matron Merle Edmondsin the shin.

The video shows Edmonds grabbing Kinloch by thethroat and pushing her against the cell wall.Three male officers then enter the cell, take Kinloch down, handcuff her and tie a restraint to her ankles.

An officer drags her to the cell door and closes it, leaving Kinloch lying on the floor, her feet up against the closed door, where she remained for the next three hours.

In his opening statement, Kinloch's lawyer, Richard Neary,told the jury his client is asking for unspecified punitive damages in order to "send a clear message to Victoria police that they can't treat people that way, especially when they are under age and in need of assistance."