By Trevor Greenway

Tommy Townsend has an ear-to-ear smile as he sits on the back of his work truck outside of the MRC des Collines courthouse in Chelsea. 

He’s smiling because a judge just threw out his case in which he was accused of wandering around the village of Wakefield with a knife two summers ago. 

“It feels good,” says Townsend, minutes after Justice Joanne Cousineau found him not guilty of a bylaw infraction April 10. “I’m glad someone had some common sense. I don’t feel the police had any common sense on that day, personally, and I don’t think the prosecutor had too much either, but the judge did…I was not wandering around. I was in my vehicle, as she stated. It’s good to get some closure.”

Townsend was arrested at gunpoint in front of his two children by MRC des Collines officers on Aug. 18, 2023, after a witness called police and reported that a man wielding a knife was wandering around the village. 

During the trial, the Wakefield single dad told the judge that he had just returned from a quick job as an arborist and had his two daughters in the car, as they were going to buy shoes at Giant Tiger. He was suddenly pulled over by police, who drew their guns and ordered Townsend onto the ground in front of Kaffe 1870. 

He was later released and was not charged criminally. Weeks later, police fined him for a bylaw infraction for carrying a knife without a reasonable excuse. 

That was the crux of the trial, as Cousineau needed to determine whether or not Townsend had a reasonable excuse to carry a knife. In her decision, she said that the police, and Crown prosecutor Olivier Gosselin failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Townsend was “wandering around.”

In August 2023 Townsend told the Low Down that he was in Wakefield searching for a missing Low man, Simeon Wapachee, and was dressed in a safety vest as he showed passersby Wapachee’s photo. He had several knives sheathed to his belt. This was not mentioned in court. 

“When I have two contradictory versions, I don’t need to see who spoke the truth. I wasn’t there,” said Cousineau. “[The Crown] has a burden of proving every element of the infraction beyond reasonable doubt.”

She continued: “Nobody in that file came and testified saying that they saw you wandering around with a knife. You were in your vehicle. That’s not public property,” she said to Townsend during her decision. “It’s maybe not the best move to be driving around with a knife on you when you’re with your daughters, but who am I to judge on that? You were arrested, and the police say they saw you in your vehicle. Now, do I believe your version? Not so much, but the long and the short of it is, the police did not see you wandering around, and that is the infraction in this bylaw.”

Townsend submitted photos of his work truck to prove he was an arborist. 

“If you’re an arborist, you have an excuse,” she said. “The part of you having [a knife] on you is a little disturbing. The long and short of it is that you were in your vehicle; you were not wandering around on the street. If the people saw you, they should have come and testified, which they did not.”

Townsend said he is happy to get “closure,” but he hesitated when asked if he felt justice was served. 

“I feel this whole thing was unjustified to begin with,” he said, adding that the traumatic event still affects his daughters. At the time of the arrest, his daughters were six and 11.

He said his youngest has nightmares about gun violence, and his oldest is now afraid of police officers.

“The most tragic part of this unnecessary event is that two small children have no faith or trust in police officers anymore.”