Woman Arrested For Legally Driving In GA With Canada License

ADEL, GA — A Canadian woman returning to college was arrested, handcuffed and jailed in Georgia last month for driving with a Canadian driver's license — which is perfectly legal.

The Canadian Broadcast Corporation reports that Emily Nield, 27, of Ontario, was on Interstate 75 in south Georgia heading to Tennessee, where she had recently completed work on a master's degree in geology. She was pulled over for driving 87 m.p.h. in a 70 m.p.h.

She was stopped near Adel, Georgia, in Cook County — just north of Valdosta and about 200 miles south of Atlanta along the interstate.

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Nield told the CBC she handed the sheriff's deputy her license, then was shocked by her response.

"She kept saying, 'No, Canadian licenses are not accepted,' " said Nield. "I was flabbergasted. I just kept saying this can't be right — a Canadian license is always valid."

Asked to prove she was Canadian, Nield showed the deputy images of her passport, birth certificate and other identification on her phone, but the officer demanded to see physical copies of the forms. She handcuffed Nield and put her in the back of a patrol car, where Nield recorded a panicked video for friends with her cellphone.

"I'm in cuffs. Help me! I don't want to go to jail," she said in the video, crying.

At the station, she said, her mugshot was taken and she was fingerprinted. She said she was initially told she'd be held until a court appearance on June 12 because she couldn't pay an $880 cash bond. The Cook County Sheriff's Office denies that.

Eventually, she was allowed to use her debit card and post her own bail, as well as pay $200 to get her car out of impound, the CBC reports.

With the help of a friend's father, who is a lawyer in Virginia, she was eventually able to have the charges expunged from her record. According to the Georgia Department of Driver Services website, non-U.S. citizens holding a valid foreign driver's license are allowed to drive in the state.

Matthew Bennett, the Cook County probate court solicitor, confirmed to the broadcaster that the charges were dismissed, saying they came from confusion about whether Nield lives in Canada or Tennessee.

Nield is now back in Canada, awaiting a refund of her bail money. She told CBC she'd like an apology from the officer, who she thinks should be formally reprimanded.

"If you're a police officer you should know your laws, especially the I-75 people going north," she said to the CBC. "There are so many snowbirds, and Canadians drive to Florida all the time for vacation."

To read the full CBC report, click here.

Photo via Shutterstock