A local woman is warning the public after an incident that scared her but she is also pleading with first responders to express compassion when they attend to help.
The incident that started Erin Bauman's experiences took place on Aug. 14 at approximately 5:30 a.m. in the vicinity of Watrous Park. Bauman and a friend had a regular walking appointment, but she was alone, on her way to the meeting, as she walked on Burden Street between 5th and 3rd Avenues. That's when she saw a lone young man of slim build riding a bike and behaving in a manner that made Bauman suspicious.
Her worried curiosity turned to fear, however, when it became apparent that the suspicious bicycler was not alone.
"I was followed to Watrous Park by an older model boxy looking black SUV," she said. "In the vehicle were two to four men with dark hair. The back windows were tinted so I don't know how many men were actually in the vehicle. It was dark and I could not get close enough to the vehicle to give a more detailed description of the men inside, or get the license plate numbers and make of the vehicle without jeopardizing my own safety. They proceeded to chase me to the park with the vehicle."
Wherever she went to evade them, the SUV followed. When she stopped at the park, to be out and seen in the open (she did not want to rush towards her home nearby and indicate to the followers where she lived), the SUV stopped also, or would sometimes circle her position.
She dialled 9-1-1 and waited for RCMP to arrive.
It took about four minutes for a police car to approach. The SUV drove off when it came into view.
"I don't know what they had planned," she said, "I just know that I really thought I might die."
With the chemistry of intense fear coursing through her body, she was ill prepared emotionally for what happened next.
The attending RCMP officer said nothing to call her down or use words to belittle her, she said, but his attitude was one of aloof disinterest.
"He seemed flippant and rude and didn't ask me any questions," she told a pair of higher ranking RCMP members whom she approached later to launch a formal complaint. "It was his demeanour, his lack of caring." He neither made efforts to locate the recently departed SUV nor did he attempt to aid her frame of mind beyond giving her a ride away from the scene of her experience.
The two officers of higher rank agreed that such behaviour, although not specifically an offense of its own, was indeed not the correct way to interact with someone who had just been victimized to the point of fear for life. They gave Bauman assurances that there was no level of shift fatigue or personal impression that would excuse such behaviour, and the officer in question would be personally brought into a discussion with them about it and, if necessary, additional training applied.
While she praised the two officers for hearing her out on the complaint, Bauman was still left feeling outside of a resolution outcome. "As of yet I am not satisfied with the response I have received," she said.
Hira Rashid is a graduate of UNBC's school of social work and host of the podcast Coloured Girl Narrative. She said what Bauman went through at the hands of the SUV occupants and then the dismissive RCMP member are part of a systemic problem.
"I have time and time again heard about harassment cases towards women in Prince George," said Rashid, who volunteers for a number of women's advocacy causes in the community. "I am aware of various harassment incidents that have occurred here and continue to occur in this town towards women. The bigger issue at hand here is that we live in a city where the Highway of Tears runs through and we have very large issues with missing and murdered women, especially Indigenous women."
The response of the attending RCMP member, to a woman at the height of her fear, caused her to feel "very disappointed." Rashid said, in her view, "It is the duty and responsibility of our first responders, especially RCMP, to be properly trained on how to deal with traumatized women. Once again this is vital because of the demographic of the city that we live in."
She added that in her experience as an advocate "I have worked with members of the RCMP and they have always done a wonderful job. However, this does not excuse how Erin was treated and I would hope this issue is looked into properly and action is taken either in the form of further training with officers or building more awareness."
Part of that awareness building took place on Thursday when the annual Take Back The Night event was held in Prince George, whereby women take to the streets en masse to call for an appropriate response to violence against women in all its forms.
