Man charged after incident involving vehicle compliance officer near N.S.-N.B. border

A truck driver from East Amherst, N.S., has been charged with assaulting a vehicle compliance officer during a routine stop Wednesday at a scale house near the N.S.-N.B. border.

Nova Scotia RCMP said a call came in just before 8 p.m. about a 50-year-old man who assaulted the officer during an inspection.

It's unclear what led to the incident.

"[Our employee] was doing a routine inspection and when he was doing that inspection, a guy got angry and went after him and grabbed him by the neck and assaulted him," said JasonMacLean, the president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union.

A spokesperson with the Department of Transportation said staff at the scale house intervened and were able to detain the assailant until RCMP arrived.

MacLean said he's not sure why the man got angry at the officer.

"Obviously, the person wasn't happy. I can't make it up why the person got upset but one could figure, maybe they waited a long time at the border, [but] maybe they didn't," he said.

There have been delays at the N.S.-N.B. border since the Atlantic provinces opened up an bubble on July 3. Truck drivers and passengervehicles can expect long waits.

MacLean said theofficer is shaken up and sore from the incident.

"This is something that has been ongoing with this group of workers, our vehicle compliance officers, for some time," MacLean said.

"And we've been advocating for them to have more defensive weapons such as pepper spray or batons or things of that nature, not to go out and enforce anything on people, but to be able to protect themselves if a situation like this does arise."

The man has been charged with assaulting a peace officer and failing to comply with conditions. Police said he was released last night on conditions.

The investigation in continuing.