Man says he was arrested after he asked officers for ID
Video shows Gary Jaeb's arrest; later charged with assaulting officer
A Yellowknife man says he is talking to city officials today after he was dragged from his vehicle, pushed to the ground and arrested by municipal enforcement officers over an alleged seatbelt infraction.
A witness recorded a video of what happened in the parking lot at Fort Gary apartments on Saturday.
The video shows Gary Jaeb, 66, in the driver's seat of his pickup truck and a uniformed bylaw officer holding him by the collar of his jacket. Jaeb's wife is on crutches standing on the driver's side of the vehicle a few feet away.
Another officer arrives on the scene and rushes to the vehicle and then the two officers drag him from his truck to the ground.
Jaeb says when he was asked for identification, he asked the officer for his ID. Jaeb says he had his ID in his hand, then asked the officer again to give him some identification.
He says that's when he was told he was under arrest and was dragged from his vehicle.
He says he spent three hours in a holding cell then was charged with assaulting a peace officer.
After a similar altercation with another driver over the summer, the head of Municipal Enforcement said bylaw officers are not required to present identification.
In a news release, RCMP stated "there are a number of enforcement agencies within the Northwest Territories other than the RCMP with the authority to arrest or detain individuals. The proper venue to dispute the authority of any detention is with the courts or through the proper chain of command with the agency involved."
Jaeb says his glasses were broken and his foot was injured in the incident.