Thomas Lukaszuk listens to a question from the media during a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010.Pawel Dwulit/THE CANADIAN PRESS
It began as a slow, cautious commute for Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. A snowstorm left Edmonton's roads a mess, and Mr. Lukaszuk was among a city-wide logjam of cars Monday evening.
That's when he saw the flashing lights.
"All of the sudden I have a cop car behind me," he says. A dark car with what he says were blue and red flashing lights had pulled up behind Mr. Lukaszuk, who was driving a government vehicle.
"So, I stop and he stops behind me. Nobody comes on the car. So I'm thinking: 'Ok, he wants me to get out of traffic, because there's a lot of traffic.' So, I slowly proceed and turn right at the first little street and then I pull over again and he follows me and nobody comes out," the minister says.
What followed may serve as a warning to teenagers and students across the province – if you're set on pulling off a prank, avoid making Mr. Lukaszuk the target.
"All of the sudden the car pulls away and I'm looking at a couple of teenagers waving at me, and they're just having a blast. So, I thought, you buggers, you're not going to get away with this. I gave them a good chase, and they were not the smartest and they weren't the best drivers either – because a few blocks later I had them pinned in a parking lot between an apartment building, so they couldn't go anywhere. I called 911 and cops showed up immediately," Mr. Lukaszuk said.
(He later tweeted: "They were not laughing when I nailed them with RCMP.") RCMP confirmed a teenage driver was given a ticket for having a flashing light, but not charged. "There was not enough evidence to prove he was purporting to be a police officer," says Sgt. Tim Taniguchi, a spokesman for RCMP in Alberta.
It wasn't all a vigilante mission, Mr. Lukaszuk says – the Education Minister says he gained some sympathy for teachers who deal with teenage pranksters on a daily basis.
"I wouldn't want to be their teacher tomorrow morning, because if they pull stunts like that off school hours, you can only imagine what they must be during school time," Mr. Lukaszuk said, later adding: "You always hear about difficult kids and classroom management, all this kind of stuff, but this gives you a first-hand experience. And it's funny because this is the first thing that goes through your mind – 'Oh my God, poor teachers.'"
He says he didn't speed or drive erratically when pinning them in a parking lot, where he talked to the teen boys, both of whom appeared to be in Grade 10 or 11, he said. They explained the lights were for a stereo system. Mr. Lukaszuk didn't identify himself. "Oh, no. They probably hate their teachers. Imagine how they feel about the education minister."
RCMP cautioned against a citizens arrest tactic ("What did Thomas do?" Sgt. Taniguchi asks) employed by the cabinet minister.
"Well, we don't want people to put themselves at risk. We would never encourage that. Is there a standard procedure to do in that case? No," Sgt. Taniguchi said.
"We would never encourage people to block people in, because you never know what type of response you'd get from the individual."