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In February, the former care aid, who volunteers with Thrifty Foods’ Sendial program, lost her licence for 90 days and her car for 30 days, even though there was no evidence she had any alcohol in her system.

In 2005, McLeod had half of the roof of her mouth removed because of mouth cancer — she now has a prosthesis in her mouth. She has also been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive lung disease.

On Feb. 14, a police officer watched her come out of the liquor store at Hillside Centre at about 9:35 a.m. with a bag.

As McLeod drove off, the officer pulled her over and demanded a breath sample.

McLeod was unable to provide a proper sample because of the prosthesis and her inability to produce enough breath.

She now faces thousands of dollars in penalties, even though she says she’d had nothing to drink that morning.

“Under the new law, police can detain you with no grounds. While you are unlawfully detained, your right to call a lawyer is denied. Asking you to provide a breath sample is a warrantless search, which violates your right to be free from an unreasonable search,” Teryn said.

She is also seeking an order setting aside the IRP, fines and the cost of impounding McLeod’s car, as well as the return of McLeod’s licence, pending the hearing of the petition.

“What’s shocking and terrible about Miss McLeod’s case is the police officer is going out of his way to paint a picture of [her] that is not even accurate. He alleged that she looked like an alcoholic,” said Teryn.

That is just so unacceptable in any decent democracy/free society...yet here we are.

I mean...do we really want to go down this road in this country?