An anti-racism group wants the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to apologize to a black man who was handcuffed because officers suspected him of trying to steal… his own vehicle.
In a video of the incident circulating on social media, the man asks officers if they handcuffed him because he is black.
According to the video, officers eventually decided to release the man, but then realized they didn’t have the key to the handcuffs. They had to call in patrol officers.
The SPVM acknowledged having read a video broadcast on social media in connection with an intervention. In a series of messages posted on Twitter, he said that investigators had noticed an unoccupied vehicle which showed “typical and obvious marks of attempted theft on one of the locks”.
“I’m arresting you because you’re driving in a car that looks stolen and I don’t have the keys to uncuff you _ , “I usually don’t arrest people for fun so I don’t have the keys ???? »
It’s because of police like these that the good guys pass for the bad guys… @SPVM⬇️ pic.twitter.com/CmqypiT7rs
— Sacha-Wilky Merazil (@SachaMerazil) November 4, 2022
He adds that a man went to the vehicle to take possession of it. The police then temporarily detained him for investigation. “The citizen was released unconditionally and without charge once the verifications were completed,” writes the SPVM.
Alain Babineau, of the group Coalition Rouge, who worked for the RCMP for 27 years, maintains that a person under investigation must be able to move freely. When that person is put in handcuffs, it is tantamount to an arrest.
He wonders if the police feared that the individual was violent because he was black.
To see in video