Of course we have this clown, Benjamin Dichter, one of the protest organizers who claimed he slipped on the ice in Ottawa and broke his ankle. Naturally he claims he is going to sue the city. And what is the root cause of roads and sidewalks not being cleared -- well it is his trucker protest which is blocking equipment and salt supplies from clearing the snow and ice.
Trucker protest organizer slips on icy sidewalk, breaks ankle bones, criticizes Ottawa for unsafe conditions
"I'm going to have reconstructive surgery in 10 days. So perhaps we should return the favour by suing Mayor Watson and the city of Ottawa because I'm not the only one who has had this experience."
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One of the organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” slipped on an icy sidewalk and broke multiple ankle bones, according to a recent social media post in which he blames Ottawa’s Mayor Jim Watson for his injury.
Benjamin Dichter, who has acted as a spokesperson for the convoy and was one of the figures behind its GoFundMe campaign before it was shut down by the crowdfunding site, appeared in a TikTok video posted by convoy participant David Alderton.
Dichter was among those named in a lawsuit filed against the protesters by an Ottawa resident who alleges the participants have caused emotional and mental distress to residents in the area and is seeking $9.8 million in damages.
In the TikTok video, Alderton introduced Dichter and asked him how he broke his leg.
“Mayor Watson … doesn’t like to salt his streets,” Dichter replied. He stood with the assistance of crutches inside what appeared to be a downtown Ottawa hotel.
“No, he doesn’t,” agreed Alderton. “I’ve fallen three times.”
“I slipped,” Dichter continued, “and I just landed the wrong way and I broke both my ankle bones. I’m going to have reconstructive surgery in 10 days. So perhaps we should return the favour by suing Mayor Watson and the city of Ottawa because I’m not the only one who has had this experience.”
The “Freedom Convoy,” whose participants have been parked throughout Ottawa’s downtown core for 12 days as of Tuesday, has ensnarled traffic and prompted the city to declare a state of emergency.
Dichter said in the video that his fall happened on a sidewalk on city property, adjacent to a hotel.
“We’re not even on these sidewalks or blocking them,” Alderton commented. “They could have easily done this (salt the sidewalks) and everyone would be safe. You’re not the only person who’s done this and hurt themselves walking around on these sidewalks and streets and it’s not even the sidewalks we’re on, it’s just regular streets that the cops got blocked off.”
“Let’s teach this mayor who thinks he’s all-powerful what happens when you don’t do your job and you don’t take care of your city,” Alderton added.
The city was treating sidewalks, according to Quentin Levesque, acting director of roads and parking services, but the protests were making such measures difficult in some areas.
“As the situation with the demonstration is very fluid, the city continues to implement contingencies and focus on pedestrian and emergency access routes through the area, clearing and treating sidewalks and facilitating the safe movement of emergency vehicles, where possible,” Levesque said in a statement. “Due to the demonstration, however, the city has encountered operational constraints which have made accessing the areas in close proximity to the Parliamentary precinct difficult.”
In Ontario, municipalities are required to keep sidewalks in a reasonable state of repair under the Municipal Act, but they are only liable for injuries on slippery sidewalks if they are found guilty of “gross negligence,” which is characterized as a reckless disregard for safety or serious carelessness which a municipality ought to have known would result in injury.
In the past week, Ottawa has received snow, rain and freezing rain and temperatures have swung from well below zero degrees celsius to hovering near freezing. Protesters in the downtown core have laid down sand on some sidewalks near Parliament Hill, where most of the occupying trucks are parked.
In another post, Alderton reported suffering a fall himself. “I was just bringing some stuff up here from where we were getting it,” Alderton said in the video, which appeared to be filmed inside the cab of his truck. “Walked right by the police, they didn’t bother us, didn’t say a word, but we were coming down the sidewalks where there are trucks in the middle but nobody blocking the sidewalks and fell on the ice. Fell hard. … I’m sitting here pretty hurt.”
A police officer helped Alderton off the ground, he said. “Even though all these other officers are trying to hurt us and trying to do all this bad stuff, there’s still some of them that if you fall they’ll still pick you back up and dust you off.”
