A black police officer from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says she is in “post-traumatic shock” after a “discriminatory” intervention by a Montreal police officer. Without ever being arrested, she says she suffered an “arm lock” and unjustified “physical violence” and claims $110,198.
What there is to know
Oldrine Jules, a black RCMP police officer, is demanding $110,198 from the SPVM and her agent Stéphane Chamberland.
She says she suffered a violent intervention from the police officer in a parking lot when she was not under arrest, in October 2023.
The police officer judges that she suffered an “unusual and discriminatory” intervention because of “her race or color”.
In October 2023, Oldrine Jules, a police officer for 14 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), stopped by car in the parking lot of Place Versailles, in eastern Montreal, to make a call. At the end of her conversation five minutes later, she drives towards the exit of the parking lot to take Sherbrooke Street and she notices a patrol car from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) which is “obstructing the way,” according to the lawsuit she filed against the organization.
The agent on duty, Stéphane Chamberland, signals him to turn around. Oldrine Jules explains to him “that she stopped, but that she wants to get back on the road”.
The police officer then replied, “in a disrespectful and singular tone while addressing her informally,” according to the lawsuit, that he saw her “trying to avoid the traffic lights while passing through the parking lot,” a prohibited maneuver.
Oldrine Jules asks him to speak to him with respect. “Aweye, turn there!” », he then replies. She decides to park, then she notices that the police officer is “letting certain cars pass”.
The policewoman decides to go make a purchase at Place Versailles.
Screams and an arm lock
Back ten minutes later, she tries to leave again, but police officer Chamberland doesn’t see it that way. He shouts and “orders her to turn around and park the car, which she does.”
A second patrol car arrives and another police officer, Steve Guérette, chats with him.
To prove that she had a reason to go to Place Versailles, Oldrine Jules approaches and tries to show her her invoice, according to her.
But “without any warning, Officer Chamberland violently grabbed his arm.” According to the lawsuit, she “quickly withdrew her arm” and claimed that her gesture “constituted assault, since she was not under arrest.”
The situation gets worse: police officer Chamberland “arm-locks him, applying great force”. Oldrine Jules “feels a lot of pain in her wrist, as well as her left shoulder,” she says.
She then mentions to the nearby police officer Guérette that he has just witnessed an assault; he replied “that he didn’t see anything, that it was just “a schoolyard argument”,” according to his lawsuit. He does not intervene, while Stéphane Chamberland “maintains pressure on the plaintiff’s arm to force her to walk to her car”.
The agent then throws Oldrine Jules against his vehicle, mentions the motion against the Montreal police. “Police Officer Chamberland then turned red with anger and had to be relieved of his duties by colleagues. »
She then speaks with Agent Guérette. He admits “that he would not have acted” like his colleague, “but that he considered that the event was simply a ‘cockfight’,” the motion states.
Post-traumatic shock
Stéphane Chamberland already faced criminal prosecution in 2017, for a case of theft of gasoline with a police payment card. He pleaded guilty to theft charges but received an absolute discharge.
The SPVM has not commented.
After her altercation with him in October, Oldrine Jules claims to have been diagnosed with post-traumatic shock syndrome.
According to her, “Police Officer Chamberland showed differential treatment” towards her “because of her race or color”. He allegedly showed “abuse of authority by using excessive, unnecessary and gratuitous force”.
An intervention with serious consequences, she says, since she says she has been completely off work since November because of these events.
Oldrine Jules adds that she is also a real estate broker, a job that she is no longer able to do either.
According to the suit, the event made her relive “the many times she felt discriminated against by a police department.” “This feeling is also exacerbated by the fact that, given her profession, the plaintiff is well placed to recognize times when the work of police officers deviates from the standards of prudence and diligence. »