A 32-year-old man has been charged with assault following an altercation with a snow plow driver in Oshawa on Saturday evening in one of two reported altercations between residents and plow operators following last week’s winter storm.
At around 9:30 p.m., Durham police officers were called to the area of Wilson Road and Greenhill Avenue after a snow plow driver and a homeowner were reportedly involved in an altercation.
“A pile of snow blocked the male’s driveway after last week’s snowstorm causing him to become upset and ultimately assaulting the snow plow driver,” police said in a press release.
The City of Oshawa’s director of operations Mike Saulnier told CP24 that during the altercation, the accused allegedly attempted to pull the operator out of his vehicle.
“The individual actually opened the door of our plow operator’s truck and was basically pulling at his pant leg to pull him out of the unit,” Saulnier said.
Scott Patton, of Oshawa, has been charged with assault. He has been released on an undertaking.
Saulnier said that there was a second altercation between an Oshawa resident and a snow plow driver on Saturday.
“Another individual didn't want his street on the corner cleared because he didn't want the windrow, and he got into it with the plow operator, and the same kind of thing happened where he opened the door – he did not touch the operator – and then had a verbal altercation and slammed the door on him,” he said.
“And then he went over to a city employee who was there monitoring traffic because of a manhole cover that was off, and he got into that person's face, and was inches away and started yelling at this person.”
This incident did not result in any criminal charges, according to Saulnier.
Saulnier says this is the first time he’s seen these types of incidents escalate like this in his 10 years working with the city.
He says due to these types of altercations becoming more frequent, some of his senior plow operators have come to prefer the night shift over the day shift.
“When you're out there during the day, my drivers are good at reading sign language and reading lips as they're going by, right? And some of it is just not worth the price of admission to them,” Saulnier said.
“I don't know if COVID is contributing to this as far as people and their level of patience being exhausted, I really don't know. [But] why would you pick on the plow operator? He's there to make sure that the roads are clear, and that we're keeping our residents safe. To take it out on them, it's just grossly unfair.”
Elsewhere in Durham Region, an Ajax teacher with a large social media following went viral over the weekend after posting a TikTok showing a massive pile of snow at the foot of her neighbour’s driveway.
Her video sparked a conversation online amongst Ajax residents, many of whom would like to see the town adopt windrow clearing, a service some other Greater Toronto Area municipalities offer.
