Regina woman who called 911 after mom cut Wi-Fi says police tweet doesn't tell whole story

A 23-year-old Regina woman who called 911 after her mother cut off their home’s Wi-Fi connection, said a tweet from a local police officer who responded to the call does not tell the whole story.

On Tuesday, Regina police Cst. Mike Seel, joked about the call on Twitter — saying he had responded to a call "where a 23-year-old called the cops on their mom, who they live with rent-free, for turning off the wifi because they wouldn't do chores."

Seel said the woman was "told to leave" if she didn't like it.

The woman, who asked to be referred to as Lee, said that was exactly what she was trying to do.

“I felt like the tweet was misleading, it was claimed that I had called an emergency in because the Wi-Fi had gotten cut off and I guess if you want to strip it of its details that’s what it looks like,” she said.

According to Lee, the internet connection was abruptly axed as she was in the process of setting up an interview with a potential landlord, and she called 911 in a moment of panic during a fraught, anxious situation.

“So she [mom] cuts off the Wi-Fi and I asked her how she expects me to move out if I can’t communicate," she said, explaining that the situation was escalating.

Lee was aware that her call was not an emergency situation.

“The [911] dispatcher asked if it was an emergency and I explicitly told her 'no' and that I am just unsure of what to do,” Lee said.

Lee said the dispatchers were easy to deal with.

“They were excellent, they determined that it wasn’t an emergency so I was given the administration line and [the dispatcher] told me to write it down so that’s what I did and I was told that responders would be there to assist me.”

According to Lee, she prefaced the call by saying she didn’t know what kind of help she needed right now.

Lee said she finds her current living situation difficult and she has been under a lot of pressure.

She explained she wasn't living "rent-free" as Seel said and is also a new university student who is currently employed. Lee said she also recently earned her GED.

In reality, she said she has been helping her family out with the challenges they are facing while also recovering from her own addictions issues for the past two years.

She said she felt humiliated when she learned one of the responding police officers tweeted publicly about the situation even though her name and address were not shared.

In an email to CTV News, Regina Police Service (RPS) said the purpose of its, "ancillary Twitter accounts is to provide interesting alternatives for informing and educating the public and also for engagement directly from the subject matter experts themselves."

RPS said "human interest topics" are part of its engagement strategy.

"But always in these instances, efforts are made to de-identify the subjects. In keeping with these efforts, we will not provide further comment,” RPS said.

Since the incident, Lee said she is no longer living with her mother and is lucky enough to have co-workers that have taken her in for the time being.

“Right now I’m being supported by my amazing co-workers. I have a great job filled with amazing people and I’ve been able to connect with them, a lot of them have been in similar situations.”