Ottawa police are reviewing the response to a 911 call which led to a robbery victim wrongfully spending 75 days in jail.
Two men broke into then 74-year-old Marian Andrzejewski's Ottawa apartment in October 2010, beating and robbing him.
When the Polish speaker tried to call 911 he had trouble communicating with the dispatcher, who showed signs of frustration at his lack of English.
"Quit saying yes. Stop it . . . No, no more yes," she can be heard saying in the tape of his call.
"It's hard for me to help you because I can't understand what you're trying to tell me," she says later.
Andrzejewski's lawyer said the call was mishandled as the translation service available to all dispatchers should have been used immediately.
"I thought the 911 operator was very inappropriate," said James Harbic. "Actually it was quite horrible."
Police said they're launching a full review of the call.
"On initial review of that call, listening to it I do have some issues on the way that call was handled," said Supt. Mike Flanagan of the Ottawa police.
On top of that, police responding to the call were stopped by one of the attackers and his mother, a known criminal.
She told them Andrzejewski had sexually assaulted her.
"The police accepted their stories to what happened and my client was charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement," Harbic said.
Andrzejewski spent 75 days in jail before he was found innocent, as he had no family or friends that knew he was in there and could bail him out.
He said he was incapable of pursuing his passion for painting for a year, as the attack left him unable to concentrate.
After all this, Andrzejewski said he's glad he has his life back today.
"I'm very happy," he said, adding it's still tough for him to listen back to that 911 call.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Ellen Mauro
