'It's really humiliating': Calgary Kijiji seller wrongly detained in sting-like takedown seeks apology
Karl Menier thought he was meeting a buyer, but was actually the target of a police operation
A man wants an apology from Calgary police after finding himself mixed up — and locked up — in a stolen property bust.
Karl Menier arranged to meet who he thought was a buyer for his high-end police radar detector, posted for sale through the popular classifieds website Kijiji.
But when he got to the agreed location on 17th Avenue, a few blocks away from his home in Mission, he says three police vehicles came out of nowhere and he found himself at the centre of a scary takedown.
"It's terrifying, it's a terrifying event," said Menier, who said he was held and grilled by officers for about an hour Monday evening.
"They were bombarding me with questions, they threw me in the back of the van, they locked me down. I'm still really shocked and it's really humiliating, I've never been humiliated like that in public."
"I was panicking and I was really confused," he said.
Menier was selling a radar detector he says he bought in Red Deer earlier this year that police say is similar to one that had been stolen recently in Calgary.
"I bought the radar on Kijiji myself about eight months ago. It's a common radar detector, there's nothing unusual about it," said Menier, who moved to Calgary earlier this month.
"I gave them my home address. They could have come and met me here," he continued.
Menier says police didn't return his radar and he doesn't know when he'll get it back.
"A little apology would be really great. If police have suspicions they should approach people differently, not aggressively like that."
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Recently, Calgary police completed operations targeting thefts from downtown parkades and residential break-ins, recovering stolen property including bicycles, documents, electronics and sports equipment.
Some of that property was recovered through online classified ads.
Calgary police said they could not provide an interview on Menier's case, but did say anyone who feels like they've been mistreated by police is encouraged to report their concerns to the force's professional standards section.