Great-grandfather, 78, is handcuffed by Ottawa cops for HONKING his car horn in support of Freedom Convoy. Handcuffed and arrested for honking his horn. So let’s rewind some and I will not go into the whole Freedom Convoy topic itself. First shame on Justin Trudeau for making it “illegal for anyone to show support for the Convoy”, that is clearly an abuse of power, plain and simple. Shame on the judge who makes it illegal to honk a horn for 10 days in support of the convoy, again, that is clearly an abuse of power. That would be no different than in the United States if the President said it is illegal to fly the American Flag. But I move on, this 78-year-old man, honked his fucking car horn and nothing else.

But regardless of the politics here, and I don’t want to get into politics, a 78-year-old man (Gerry Charlebois) standing 4ft 10 inches who is a great grandfather, he grabbed, forced to his knees, handcuffed, arrested all for honking his horn, which some will argue is a freedom of speech here in the US. Gerry Charlebois sustained injuries to his arms, hands, shoulders, and knees as a result.

Why did they not just fine him like the other 1,300 individuals that they have already ticketed since the convoy demonstrations? This all came about when an Ontario Superior Court Justice temporarily banned honking and air horn blowing for 10 days on Monday, after a lawsuit brought by a downtown resident who measured the noise in her apartment at more than 80 decibels during the protests, which began on January 29.

And Gerry Charlebois honked his car horn (somewhere between 108-120 decibels depending on the model of the vehicle in question). We are talking 80 decibels which is equivalent to that of a food blender, heavy traffic while you are in the car, a noisy restaurant, or a cinema.  Come on, that is a little obsessive.

The good thing is that Gerry Charlebois was later fined $118 for ‘unnecessary noise’ but has not been criminally charged.