Calgary police give homeless man $500 ticket for littering in Bowness
Bruce Jasson says he was feeding the birds but police says he was breaking the law
A homeless man in Bowness recently found himself in trouble with the Calgary police when he decided to feed his leftover pizza to the birds.
He thought he was doing a good deed but police saw it differently, and gave him with a $500 fine for littering.
Bruce Jasson has lived in the John Hextall Park along the Bow River for nearly eight years. He has a regular route around the area where he picks up bottles.
A few days ago, he parked the baby stroller he uses to cart around his belongings to feed some leftover pizza to the birds.
When he returned two police officers were at his stroller.
"The police officer, the one that gave me the ticket — he's pushing my baby stroller. I'm yelling at him, 'What do you think you're doing?' And I did kinda call him an a---hole because he said he thought it was abandoned," said Jasson.
Bruce suspects his reaction at the officer is what escalated things.
Ticket payment concerns
A police spokesperson said the littering ticket was for leaving slices of pizza on the ground, and the minimum amount for a littering infraction is $500.
Collin Spires, a local businessman and friend of Jasson's, says it's ironic the ticket is for littering. He says the 54-year-old regularly cleans the park. He questions the wisdom of issuing a homeless person with a huge fine.
"How do you pay it? He makes on average $17 a day picking bottles out of garbage cans, and cost of living — let's call it $10 a day — ...that's going to take him half a year to pay a $500 fine."
Spires has given Jasson a job delivering flyers for his company. Jasson says he will fight the ticket if he can raise the $7 to pay for transit downtown to the courts centre.
Police say as long as Jasson attends his court appearance there are options available to him, like a repayment plan or community service — and that's only if he is found guilty.
After this story ran on CBC Radio, Sean Curry came forward offering to to donate $50 toward the fine.
"Times are tough enough for everyone, and I'm sure one more roadblock in his life is not really what he needs," he said.