A woman who was confronted after she poured garbage into a lake has finally received a hefty fine by police. A viral video caught the litterer dumping trash from a bag into a clean, duck-filled lake at a park in Canada, prompting the video taker to approach and scold the woman. However, she was argumentative and standoffish, thinking that she didn’t do anything wrong. Police later found the litterer and gave her several citations, but many think that she should have faced a much harsher punishment.
Many frustrated that litterer was only fined $1,000
An unnamed woman was filmed pouring the contents of a bag from a boardwalk bridge into Mill Lake in Abbotsford, Canada, according to video on X (formerly Twitter) posted on August 17.
The video-taker later confronts the litterer, telling her how inappropriate it is to dump trash among the fauna and flora in the water, especially since there are trashcans around the park to dump garbage. The woman tried to deny what she did before telling the person not to talk to her and walking away. A shot of the garbage the woman allegedly dumped, which includes small boxes and plastic, can be seen among the lily pads and ducks in the water.
According to Abby News, the Abbotsford Police Department received multiple reports of the incident that originally occurred in late July. To their surprise, officers discovered that the woman was connected to a separate report of someone dumping trash near Blue Jay Elementary school.
They contacted the individuals who had posted videos of both incidents to track the woman down and on August 20 announced that they had identified her and given her two citations totaling $1,000. APD did not release the name of the woman due to privacy laws.
In a statement on Facebook, the department acknowledged that the videos “understandably generated strong reactions” and showed appreciation for “the majority of our community who shared information responsibly & helped police identify the individual.”
However, numerous commenters felt that the $1,000 fine was not enough. One wrote, “We need these fines to deter the people that pollute our lakes and wildlife. Who do we petition to get these fines raised to $10,000?”
Many others believe the woman should be forced to pick up trash, with one saying, “She should be ordered to do community work keeping our streets clean under watched supervision.”
Another agreed, “It would feel much better, in a just world, if, in addition to the fines, she, and anyone littering, were ordered to clean up their litter along with a reasonable quantity of hours to pick up general litter under supervision.”
