Serving Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra since 1984
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FRIDAY
January 28, 2011
24
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Gleneagle basketball coach Patty Anderson preaches teamwork.
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Your source for local news, sports, weather and entertainment. www.thenownews.com
Mexican vacation turns into a nightmare Husband of Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne held in jail cell, but couple says they’ll be back Dan Olson dolson@thenownews.com A Tri-Cities MLA and her husband say they will return to Mexico — despite enduring a horrific experience that included a jail cell and an apparent shakedown that cost them approximately $1,500. Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne and her husband Neil Edmondson have vacationed in Mexico more than a dozen times over the past 30 years, but their most recent trip included seeing a side of the country they had, until now, only experienced through the media. Edmondson spent eight tense hours in a city jail following a car accident that had all the markings of a shakedown. The experience nearly sent the 78-year-old retiree — who has severe asthma and has suffered a couple of strokes — to the hospital. “We’ve never had any family or friends that have had a bad experience, that we know of, in Mexico,” Edmondson told The NOW in an exclusive interview. “We’ve never had a bad experience, but this time.” Although the Mexican police and justice system have been in the media and political spotlight before, both Edmondson and Thorne, 67, have had nothing but glowing words to describe the country and its people. That is, until the morning of Monday, Jan. 10, in the Yucatán port city of Progreso, where the rental car Edmondson was driving was hit by two motorcycles. The couple was three-quarters of the way into a five-week trip when they were travelling in the left-hand lane of a one-way street, preparing to turn off. Fellow Coquitlam residents Larry Talson and Fran Miller were in the car with them. The motorcyclists raced up on Edmondson’s left before hitting the car. Both riders and their passengers were sent flying, but two got up quickly and sped off. The others remained at the scene, with one young man nursing his shoulder. “The first thing I did when I got out of the car was I went up and asked them if they were OK,” Edmondson said. “He seemed to be fine, but they were moaning and groaning a bit.”
Paul vanPeenen/NOW
Neil Edmondson and Diane Thorne’s troubles began when their rental car was hit by two motorcycles. Ushered into a four-by-eight-foot A witness from across the street caught their attention, confirming in interrogation room, Edmondson proceeded to wait, anxious about the halting English what had happened. “She was yelling immediately from situation. He was questioned once and, after a couple of hours, was her corner [to Neil], ‘Not your fault, allowed to take a bathroom break not your fault,’” Thorne recalled. — while an armed officer watched Within moments, an ambulance over him. and police arrived, “It was the worst as did an American experience of my who offered his life, being in a interpreting skills. “You hear about he said. “All Although police people being put away jail,” I’m thinking about would not allow in a Mexican jail, and is you hear about Thorne to accompany Edmondson to five years later they people being put away in a Mexican the station to help are still there.” jail, and five years straighten everything later they are still out, they did permit there because the the man, who introNeil Edmondson law is, well, there is duced himself as Coquitlam Resident no law.” Pedro, to join them. A representative “The first thing from the auto insurthat I saw inside [the ance carrier was even at the station, police station] was a guy lying face offering assurances that all costs down on the floor in handcuffs,” would be covered. Edmondson said. “There were five After four hours of waiting and or six policemen standing there, all worrying and not hearing anything with guns or rifles. One had a rifle from her husband, Thorne called the aimed at this guy’s back. Another station. She reached Edmondson and was kicking him, not hard, but heard that he needed US$2,000 to enough to get his attention.”
secure his release. With the assistance of Talson and Miller, Thorne managed to gather enough pesos to take to the jail. She was shocked to find her husband, exhausted and shaking, in a small dingy room in the cellblock. “Neil was in total shock. I could see that,” she said. “He was weak from the strain, but I had all of his medicine with me … When I came in, I had a moment of rage and began swinging Neil’s bag of medicine in the face of one policeman. Neil asked me to just stop, to calm down and I had to, because I could see it wasn’t helping.” The money went to cover a litany of expenses that supposedly included $1,000 (all figures in US dollars) to the family of the injured man, and a $25 impound fee. Pedro also claimed to have paid the police $250 to release Edmondson, which would be reimbursed the next day, plus another $200 for their assistance during the ordeal. Altogether, they estimate the experience cost them $1,520. In hindsight, Pedro’s fortuitous arrival at the crash scene and his
having exactly $250 to pay the officers seemed beyond coincidence, but Edmondson believes the American saved his life. “I think it was all part of one great big scam. I hate to say Pedro was part of it, but it’s funny he came around when he did and funny he had, supposedly, 2,500 pesos in his pocket to pay off the cops. I never gave the cops any money … It was a horrible, horrible experience, but I felt [Pedro] was my lifesaver. I don’t know what I’d have done without him. “He was saying, ‘Stay calm, Neil. It will all work out.’ Even if he was in on it, I got the feeling that I may not have survived the evening without him there.” Add in a bill for car repairs, despite the insurance policy they were required to purchase upon renting the sedan, and the whole experience makes for a cautionary tale. But it didn’t completely rob the couple of their faith in the people of Mexico. Edmondson said while his first impulse after arriving home on Jan. 20 was to avoid the country, he now wants to return to enjoy the hospitality of those he has come to know. But he’ll never rent a car again. “After a lot of soul searching and thought, I’m definitely going back to Mexico again,” he said. “I won’t hold it against the people, who are wonderful. Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent are just trying to make a living.” When contacted for comment on this story, Alberto Lozano, press attaché for the Mexican Embassy based in Ottawa, gave the following statement: “We are taking very seriously any incident involving Canadian citizens in Mexico. We are deeply concerned about Mrs. Diane Thorne and her husband Neil Edmondson’s sad experience in Mexico. “We will contact authorities in the state of Yucatán to find out what happened, and we will try to contact Mr. Edmondson and Mrs. Thorne in order to let them know that every Canadian travelling into Mexico is very important for us. Among our higher priorities right now is ensuring that Mexican visitors have a safe CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, see EMBASSY.