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Q What happened after you were taken into custody at Niagara’s Rainbow Bridge border crossing?

A We had heard Niagara Falls had a better view on the Canadian side and we were just going over the border for 20 minutes to take a look. I’m very nervous around authority figures and when the guard asked me if I had a weapon I panicked, thinking I was going to get in trouble, so I said, “No.” He waved me over to another officer, who again asked me if I had any weapons. I said, “Yes,” thinking they would give me a second chance — but they did not.

Q You spent 18 days in detention before being released to live with friends while your case was resolved. While incarcerated were you, as the stereotype goes, treated politely?

A Yeah, I hear that compared to the U.S. it’s not bad at all. But you still have to make sure you’re not stepping on other people’s toes. I saw fights in there, mostly over really dumb stuff like a guy who got punched in the face over a sticky bun.

Q Who else was in there?

A Some deserved to be in there, but others had just made some mistakes. One man was going up to his father-in-law’s funeral and he didn’t declare his guns. They take your gun when you declare it and then you have to return to the same border crossing to get it back, but he didn’t want to do that. He’s probably still there in jail just waiting; he was facing three years of charges.

Q How did you wrap up the case and get home?

A My lawyer advised we should plead guilty and argue the sentence down, but it still took 3½ months before I was finally released. I had to pay $1,000 to get my bike out of seizure and drove it out of Ontario, but then it got really cold, Hurricane Sandy hit and then it snowed on me in Pennsylvania. I had to leave the bike in Cleveland and take a flight home.