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A Nova Scotia woman says she regrets calling RCMP to report an erratic driver after a confusing ordeal resulted in an officer going inside her home without her knowledge.<\/p>\n
Robin MacDougall was driving from Antigonish, N.S., to Port Hawkesbury on Highway 104 in June to celebrate Father\u2019s Day with her parents when she noticed a vehicle ahead of her swerving on the road, slowing down and then speeding up again.<\/p>\n
She called 911, and at the end of the call, the dispatcher told her to call back if she or the erratic driver got off the highway, MacDougall said.<\/p>\n
MacDougall called back less than 10 minutes later before she took an exit for Port Hawkesbury and told the dispatcher the erratic driver was continuing in the direction of Cape Breton, she said.<\/p>\n
The matter was no longer her problem, MacDougall thought \u2014 until she received a call from an RCMP officer while she was out to lunch with her parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s like, \u2018Hey, so there’s been a miscommunication and we were in your house,\u2019\u201d MacDougall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just couldn’t comprehend how we went from the highway to my house in the opposite direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Robin MacDougall and Donovan Purcell say they never locked their back door, but that has changed. Antigonish RCMP Staff Sgt. Kimberly Hillier says in some cases a locked door wouldn’t stop them from checking on someone after a dropped 911 call. (Grey Butler\/CBC)<\/p>\n
MacDougall and her partner, who was at work at the time, never locked their back door, which is how the officer got into the house.<\/p>\n
She was still confused about why the officer was there and was concerned about her cats getting out of the house, so she called her friend.<\/p>\n
Jade Lowe says she was running errands when MacDougall asked her to go to her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe officer opened [the door] and he seemed a little frazzled,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cHe kept apologizing.\u201d<\/p>\n
RCMP says dropped call led to home visit<\/p>\n
MacDougall feels her privacy has been violated and doesn\u2019t know what she\u2019ll do the next time she sees a dangerous situation on the road, but the head of the RCMP detachment in Antigonish says her officers did nothing wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Staff Sgt. Kimberly Hillier says another call from MacDougall was disconnected and the dispatcher couldn\u2019t get back in touch with MacDougall, so an officer was sent to her home.<\/p>\n
These were two separate matters being investigated by different officers who didn\u2019t know they were related and they were only concerned about someone\u2019s safety, Hillier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not looking for an impaired driver at the residence. We were looking for a person in distress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n