A Canadian man is suing the country’s police department over claims he walked naked out of his shower to find a female uniformed Mountie standing in his bedroom — and was later mocked by officers as “the shower guy.”
Kirk Forbes filed a Notice of Civil Claim in July, a year after the surprise visit, accusing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer of abusing their authority and for not identifying herself as a police officer until Forbes demanded to know who was inside his home.
“When I open the bathroom door, bang, right there, I’m face to face with an intruder in my house,” Forbes told CTV News.
“A little bit of panic set in.”
The incident unfolded in June 2022 inside Forbes’ home in Coquitlam, a city in British Columbia just 25 miles north of the Washington border.
After getting dressed, Forbes walked into his living room to find a male cop rifling through his property, he claims.
The pair told him the door swung open when they knocked and allegedly joked about entering the home without consent or a search warrant.
Additionally, Forbes claims the disturbance was disproportionate to the reason he was being sought — to be served a ticket violation for not stopping for a school bus, which he claims he didn’t know he committed.
Kirk Forbes claims two Mounties entered his home without invitation while he was in the shower.CTV News
“There’s such a gross overreach – an abuse of power – that I believe happened with them coming into my home,” Forbes said.
“And I think Canadians need to be aware that this has happened and it is happening. It’s an erosion of not just my rights but everybody’s rights.”
The Mounties confirmed Tuesday that two of their officers entered the home after noticing that it appeared to be “an insecure premise.”
The RCMP acknowledged that the homeowner raised concerns about the entry, but said it “believed” the issues were resolved informally.
Forbes claims he walked out of the shower naked to find the female Mountie standing in his bedroom.CTV News
Forbes, however, said he only grew increasingly upset with the Mounties in the months following the incident.
He made an informal complaint about the situation the morning it occurred and was told the department would investigate and report back to him, he claims.
After three weeks passed without any update, Forbes visited the local detachment, where a receptionist allegedly referred to him as “the shower guy.”
Forbes was shocked that his vulnerable moment had become fodder for the department, which only caused further anxiety and embarrassment, prompting him to file the formal complaint in May.
The female Mountie was in uniform but did not identify herself until Forbes asked her to, he claims.AP
He has also filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages against the two officers, the Attorney General of Canada and the B.C. minister of public safety.
“It was pretty concerning, not to mention embarrassing, to know that this situation has become water-jug banter at the RCMP hall,” he said.
“If I get pulled over, or see some RCMP in the community, now do I have to look at them and have them know that I’m that guy?”
The RCMP said it was investigating the incident, but that the officers may have had a plausible reason to enter without an invitation.
“There’s case law that if there’s an insecure premise that police have a duty to make sure that nobody’s injured inside, and the only way you can do that is to enter,” RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Alexa Hodgins told CBC News.
Hodgins said examples include “a window being smashed, or a door opening or maybe the doors already open — those types of things.”
The RCMP has not yet filed a statement of defense in the lawsuit.
Forbes said he is disputing the ticket violation officers entered his home to give him that day.
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