Pregnant woman says she was forced to walk home in cold

A Quebec woman, who is eight months pregnant, says she was forced to walk home in

freezing temperatures on Tuesday, after a provincial police officer confiscated her car for an

unpaid registration bill.

Laura Cerminara, a Grade 10 teacher in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Lambert, said she was

driving to school on Tuesday morning when she was she stopped by a Surete du Quebec

officer on the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

The crossing connects the city to suburbs of Longueuil and Saint-Lambert.

“I started to panic a bit, because it’s maybe the second time in my life I’ve been pulled

over,” she told a leading TV channel.

The officer told her she had an outstanding car-registration bill, and seized her car on the

spot.

“I’m thinking, at this point in time: ‘Did we never pay for this? Like I don’t understand what’s

going on,'” she said.

“And I’m really upset. I was crying. I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

Cerminara said the officer then dropped her off at the entrance to the bridge, several blocks

away from transit in the “freezing cold,” and made no offer to bring her home.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“That anyone — it doesn’t matter that I’m pregnant — but that anyone would just be dropped

off like that.”