Ontario woman arrested and jailed in US for driving with Canadian licence

A Canadian woman was driving down I-75 about a month ago. It is a popular road often used by Canadians connecting to Florida by vehicle. Next, she was pulled over while passing through the state of Georgia for speeding, according to CBC.

When asked to produce her driver’s licence, Emily Nield “handed over her Ontario’s driver’s licence” and was shocked to hear the officer’s reaction.

“She kept saying, ‘No, Canadian licences are not accepted,” said Neild. “I was flabbergasted. I just kept saying this can’t be right – a Canadian licence is always valid”

The police officer then asked for corroborating identification such as a passport or birth certificate, which Neild produced on her phone via copies or photographs. The officer insisted she see physical hard copies of the documents.

Once unable to produce physical copies of her birth certificate, Neild was arrested.

“When I failed to produce it, she reached through the window of my car and [put] handcuffs on me … She told me that I have just been arrested for driving without a licence and that I needed to go to jail.”

Neild managed to record herself in the back of the police cruiser and she was located by her friends.

At the station, Neild was arrested for “driving without a licence and [for] speeding, doing 87 mph in a 70 mph zone.” She was fingerprinted after a mugshot.

Case dropped

Neild had the option of staying behind bars until her court appearance on June 12 or paying a US jail bond in cash.

Because she did not have $880 USD in cash at the moment, Neild was “eventually … allowed to use her debit card and post her own bail. Neil said she also had to pay $200 to remove her car from the impound.”

Neild had a valid fear of holding a criminal record for something non-criminal, so she stayed in the States trying to get the case dismissed and her record wiped from the American system.

The case was eventually dismissed three days later by a judge in Cook County. The only advice given to Canadian drivers was to make sure “you have your passport or supporting documents along with your driver’s licence.”

This is next quote is pulled from the Georgia Department of Driver Services website:

“Non-U.S. citizens holding a valid foreign driver’s licence are allowed to drive in the state of Georgia… in the case of a driver licence issued by the driver’s licensing authority of a foreign country, a law officer may consult a person’s passport or visa to verify the validity of such licence, if available.”

Neild wants the police officer responsible for her arrest formally reprimanded.