Quebec Man Says U.S. Coast Guard Abducted Him in Canadian Waters and Border Patrol Threw Him in Jail

A resident of Quebec said the U.S. Coast Guard detained him in Canadian waters and turned him over to U.S. Border Patrol, which threw him in jail.

Sixty-year-old Edouard Lallemand said he borrowed a friend’s boat on Sunday and was fishing in the northern tip of Lake Champlain, some 15 kilometers north of the U.S. border. Lallemand said he has been fishing in the area for decades and was certain he was in Canadian territory. However, members of the U.S. Coast Guard approached him and said he was in U.S. waters.

“I said, ‘No, I’m very sorry, I’m in Canada.’ And I said, ‘I’m polite enough to talk to you guys but you cannot arrest me. You can’t come across the border and pick me up.’ But they did,” Lallemand told Canada’s CTV News. He said he started the engine to the boat, and the Coast Guard tried to push him into the U.S. As a result, Lallemand fell overboard.

“They’re tying my boat to their boat. They’re not even taking care of me. The third time I went down, coming out with water in my mouth, spitting it out, I said, ‘Throw me a buoy,’” he said, adding that the Coast Guard handcuffed him. “I never saw somebody so angry.”

The Coast Guard turned him over to U.S. Border Patrol, at which point agents fingerprinted him and put him in a jail cell with his clothes still wet. Lallemand said they gave him a “dirty” blanket. He was released two hours later.

“I want the people to know and to be aware: stay away from the border,” Lallemand warned. “Even if it’s 500, 600 feet from there.”

He said he would like an apology from the U.S. Coast Guard and told CTV News, “I’m never going to be the same.”

Watch above via CTV News by way of WCAX.