(Note: The CIWS does not condone or encourage violence
but we report incidents that may involve injured workers in order to expose the
level of frustration and desperation many injured workers reportedly feel about
the WCB system.)
Winnipeg WCB Bomb Scare. "Why do you think I did
this?"
Disgruntled worker who sparked Winnipeg bomb scare avoids
criminal record
"The compensation board rejected his claim, forcing Wood
into an even deeper funk . . . Wood spent three nights sleeping in his truck,
then hit the highway to Winnipeg in a desperate bid to have his voice heard.
"Why do you think I did this? CN and the Workers Compensation Board have
been screwing us CN workers for years. Make us work injured. I'm just trying to
get some attention. I want something done about this.""
By: The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG
-- A disgruntled CN Rail employee won't have a criminal record for causing a
three-hour bomb scare that brought downtown Winnipeg to a halt.
Forty-nine-year-old Brent Gordon Wood has pleaded guilty to a charge of simple
mischief for driving his pickup truck into the front doors of the Workers
Compensation Board building in February.
Crown attorney John Barr said
it would have been difficult to go after Wood criminally or financially for the
mayhem he caused because there is no evidence he was deliberately trying to do
so.
Wood was seen holding a device inside his vehicle moments after
the crash and told officers to "evacuate the building."
The device
turned out to be a remote control for his car seat warmer.
Provincial
court Judge Rocky Pollock gave Wood a conditional discharge, fined him $1,200
and ordered him to repay the cost of a window he damaged with his vehicle.
Hundreds of downtown workers were evacuated from their offices and
police blocked traffic for several blocks during the incident.
Wood
eventually walked out of his vehicle on his own.
Defence lawyer Greg
Brodsky said his client suffered a painful back and shoulder injury years
earlier and felt he was unable to work. He was also struggling with financial
and family issues and had a doctor's note from late 2006 suggesting he be
placed on disability benefits.
The compensation board rejected his
claim, forcing Wood into an even deeper funk, which culminated with his wife
apparently kicking him out of their family farm near Dauphin in the days prior
to the incident, Brodsky said.
Wood spent three nights sleeping in his
truck, then hit the highway to Winnipeg in a desperate bid to have his voice
heard.
"Why do you think I did this? CN and the Workers Compensation
Board have been screwing us CN workers for years. Make us work injured. I'm
just trying to get some attention. I want something done about this. I've been
working since '85 with an injured back," Wood told a CBC camera operator as he
was being led away by police following his arrest.
Brodsky said Wood
will be pursuing a new hearing with the compensation board, and is now aware of
the appeals process for his rejected claim.
(Note: The CIWS does not condone or encourage violence
but we report incidents that may involve injured workers in order to expose the
level of frustration and desperation many injured workers reportedly feel about
the WCB system.)