Carrie Low speaks to the media outside court in Halifax, on Sept. 16, 2019.Michael Tutton/The Canadian Press
A Halifax woman has launched a lawsuit alleging police falsely labelled her as a lying alcoholic while mishandling – and then shelving – her sexual assault case.
Carrie Low says in a statement of claim submitted to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that she’s seeking damages from the RCMP and Halifax Regional Police.
The lawsuit launched Monday by lawyer Michael Dull repeats Low’s statements last year that police failed to visit the scene where the rape is alleged to have happened.
It also alleges police didn’t properly handle Low’s clothing as evidence and failed to send it for examination in a timely fashion after the May 2018 incident.
“I am proceeding with this lawsuit in the hopes that no other women will have to go through what I have had to endure for the past 20 months,” Low, 43, said in an e-mailed comment.
“I don’t feel heroic or brave, I am just trying to seek justice for myself and possibly for other women with similar experiences. Hopefully this will be the catalyst for real change in the way sexual assaults are investigated.”
The legal action contains fresh allegations that officers made false assumptions about the Dartmouth, N.S., resident.
“Rather than conduct a meaningful investigation into the plaintiff’s sexual assault, the defendants (police officers) took active steps to close the investigation,” says the statement of claim.
“Without evidence, the defendants labelled the plaintiff ‘a drunk’ and ‘a liar’ and, for this reason, instructed at least one investigating officer not to investigate the merits of her sexual assault or properly collect evidence pursuant to the standards required of a reasonable competent policing agency.”
The lawsuit alleges that by giving Low this label, police internally classified the plaintiff’s allegations as being “unfounded.”
Emma Halpern, director of the local branch of the Elizabeth Fry Society, said the new information used in the latest lawsuit comes from an investigator who came forward to Low and the society following media coverage last year.
The claim has not been proven in court and the two police forces, which operate a joint sexual assault unit in Halifax, have not yet filed statements of defence.
The Halifax police force has already stated it is concerned by Low’s allegations and is looking into them through an internal review.
Low has said in interviews she blacked out through much of the incident but has had brief and painful recollections of waking to being assaulted.
She also has said she believes she was drugged while having a drink at a neighbourhood pub, but evidence to confirm what was in her blood wasn’t immediately sent to a lab for processing.
The statement of claim says within hours of the alleged assault, Low sought care at Dartmouth General Hospital through the emergency room, including blood work for a toxicology examination.
It says she was approached by an officer who began interviewing her about the circumstances of her assault and that her teenage daughter was present at the time.
The hospital room interview was stopped by the sexual assault nurse who protested that the officer was in breach of normal sexual assault protocols, the statement of claim says.
It is also alleged that Low was told by the constable an officer would pick up the sealed bag containing her clothing from her residence that evening, but that didn’t occur.
“On May 29, 2018 the plaintiff called and spoke with the supervising officer about her concerns that her clothing had not been collected. Later that evening, 10 days after reporting the sexual assault, the defendants collected the Plaintiff’s sealed bag of clothing,” the statement of claim says.
It adds that between May and September, 2018, Low received no information from police. She subsequently attended two interviews with the sexual assault investigation team.
Last year, the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner declined to refer Low’s case for a hearing, saying the alleged police misconduct occurred more than six months before she brought forward her complaint.
Lawyers with the Elizabeth Fry Society are now attempting to have the complaints commissioner’s decision against Low reversed and to have her complaint against police processed.
That case is expected back in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on March 3.
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