As a chess player, Bela Kosoian earned the title of “candidate master,” the fourth highest international ranking for experts at the game. She could calculate 15 moves ahead in a match.But nothing in Kosoian’s training helped her anticipate the outcome of a routine ride on an escalator, a normally banal event that left her handcuffed by police and consumed by a decade-long legal battle.All because she didn’t hold the escalator’s handrail.Read more: Woman ticketed for not holding escalator handrail to be heard by Supreme CourtIn November, the Supreme Court of Canada surprised some legal watchers by agreeing to hear her appeal. It will decide whether a police officer acted legally when he handcuffed Kosoian, searched her backpack for identification, and wrote her a $100 ticket for not holding the handrail at a subway station in the Montreal suburb of Laval. The court will also rule on whether Kosoian’s lawsuit for damages is valid.“It’s not about money,” says Kosoian, who sued for $69,000, split between the officer and Montreal’s transit commission. “I did not commit any crime. I did not do anything wrong. It was abuse of power on the part of the police.”Kosoian lives in a cosy bungalow in London, Ont., with her husband and two teenage children. She says she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the escalator incident in 2009, and decided it was best to leave Quebec.“I was afraid to go outside. I had trouble sleeping. I was shaking. I was afraid of police. I always wanted to sit in the dark.“I said, ‘I have to go somewhere where there is no métro,’ she adds, referring to Montreal’s subway. “And every time I see a policeman I’m thinking, ‘They’re going to arrest me.’ ”Time hasn’t eased the distress. While reviewing court documents to prepare for the Star’s interview, Kosoian says she started to shake. ...
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