He called the police by identifying himself, but was arrested instead of the suspect: Mamadi Camara, wrongly imprisoned in connection with the attack on police officer Sanjay Vig, recounted the course of the attack which occurred in January 2021 and its intervention to notify the authorities.
“I saw them fighting. I was very confused,” recalled Mamadi Camara.
His testimony began Monday morning, at the Montreal courthouse, in the trial of Ali Ngarukiye, 23. The latter is notably accused of the attempted murder of police officer Sanjay Vig, an event that caused a stir two years ago.
The recording of the 911 call was played to the jury during the hearing. We hear Mr. Camara identifying himself.
“A policeman stopped me and someone came and hit him!” […] The policeman ran and left his car. There was a shot,” Mr. Camara then repeated during the brief call made on January 28, 2021, in the early evening.
“I don’t know who shot. I heard a shot,” he continues in response to the Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Louis Bouthillier.
Mr. Camara was waiting to receive a ticket from Sanjay Vig, an agent of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) specializing in road safety, the evening the attack took place. He told the jury he heard “fighting noises” while he was sitting in his vehicle. Police officer Sanjay Vig’s car was behind his.
He then saw the suspect, armed with a long stick, and the police officer fighting on the ground, he explained before judge François Dadour. Officer Vig was calling for help, according to the witness. He then saw the policeman running. The suspect, described by Mr. Camara as a man with dreads short, also fled the scene.
The 30-year-old then rushed to call the police. “I was really scared,” he added.
After leaving the scene, he is arrested by the police. “Several police officers came and pointed their guns at me. I just raised my hands, I said: it’s not me, I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Camara said. He was incarcerated for six days following his arrest.
Calm during the arrest
The accused’s lawyer, Me Sharon Sandiford questioned Mr. Camara at length about the moment when Officer Vig stopped him for an offense related to cell phone use while driving.
“I don’t remember using my phone,” the witness said. He also claims to have repeated to Agent Vig that he had not used his cell phone. He added that he remained calm in the car, without raising his voice. “I wasn’t angry,” he replied during cross-examination.
After the 911 call, Mr. Camara remained there. He even asked an officer who had arrived as reinforcement if he had to stay on site to receive his ticket. The latter told him he could leave.
Pier-Luc Tardif, an SPVM agent present shortly after the attack, testified last Friday in the trial. He then explained to the jury that Sanjay Vig had identified his assailant as the last person to whom he had given a ticket. It was ultimately Ali Ngarukiye who was arrested in Toronto weeks later in connection with the attack. Me Sharon Sandiford and M.e Moana Franco is defending the accused in this trial which is expected to last three months.
“It was an honest mistake. Police officer Vig was only able to see his assailant for a few seconds,” said Crown prosecutor M.e Jasmine Guillaume, in her opening statement last week.
Officer Vig is expected to testify before the jury in the coming weeks.
The story so far
On January 28, 2021, SPVM police officer Sanjay Vig was attacked. The suspect approaches him from behind, hits him in the head with a metal bar and disarms him.
Mamadi Camara, a man in his thirties, is on stage. He had been arrested by Officer Vig for an offense related to cell phone use while driving. Mr. Camara, a witness to the attack, dialed 911. He was told to leave the scene.
He will then be wrongly arrested, incarcerated for six days, then finally exonerated.
Ali Ngarukiye, a man in his 20s, will be arrested in March 2021 by Toronto police for the attempted murder of Officer Sanjay Vig.