A 58-year-old Ontario woman is facing a charge of assault with a weapon after allegedly spraying a neighbor in the chest with a water gun by accident while playing with a child.

On September 1st, Wendy Washik, an educational assistant from Simcoe, Ontario, was playing with children during a backyard barbecue when she accidentally sprayed a neighbor who was cutting grass in the chest with a water gun. She claims that she apologized immediately, but the man kept screaming at her and at one point went into his home to call the police and report that he had been “physically assaulted”. Ontario Provincial Police officers answered the call and determined that two people had been involved in a “dispute” that resulted in a victim being physically assaulted. Washik told reporters that police didn’t even ask to see the water gun before charging her.

Photo: sydney rae/Unsplash

They didn’t ask me one question,” the 58-year-old woman said of the police. “They didn’t ask to see the water gun. Not one question asked… My husband was in disbelief.”

Asked by local reporters to confirm that the weapon used in the alleged assault was a water gun, a spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police said that it was “inappropriate” to comment on the specifics of the case. However, Washik insists that she was playing with a child’s water gun no longer than the length of her forearm.

The incident has taken a heavy toll on Wendy Washik and her family. Because she works as an educational assistant with the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, she cannot return to work until the case is settled, and while she understands why that is, she cannot hide her frustration.

“Every day is still a struggle, it’s hard to not think about it constantly,” Wendy Washik told CTV News. “It’s hard to move on because it’s hard to forget. I’m still worrying about the outcome of it all.”

 

Washik’s family has been trying to raise money for her legal fees as she is scheduled to appear in court on September 24, but the nature of her charge has been making that very difficult. For example, a GoFundMe page that had raised over $12,000 has been taken down because hers was “technically a criminal charge,” and the platform doesn’t allow fundraising for that. The family has been trying alternatives because they have no idea how long their legal battle will last.