A Chateauguay resident who faces eight counts related to a traffic interception that occurred in the spring of 2020 while driving his wife’s vehicle claims to have been the victim of racial profiling and police brutality. He is now fighting in court to try to drop the charges against him and obtain financial compensation.
On April 12, 2020, Herbert Moume Eyoum, a man in his fifties, father of three children, was intercepted by a Châteauguay police patrol at around 9:45 p.m. while driving on Saint-Francis Boulevard in this municipality. in the southern suburbs of Montreal. He was then on his way home after a long day of work with the Montreal-based charity Root Cross, where he was director of the immigration service.
The original reason for this traffic stop, as detailed in a police report that The duty was able to consult, comes down to the fact that the Châteauguay resident was driving a vehicle belonging to a woman — in this case his spouse. The police officer who arrested him says in her investigation report that the man seemed to be driving with his abilities impaired by alcohol, which the principal concerned denies. Herbert Moume Eyoum assures that at no time during this police intervention, we agreed to tell him why he was intercepted. He did not receive any traffic fines following this event, although his driver’s license was then suspended.
He was then taken to the back seat of the police officer’s car, who called for reinforcements and had the arrested driver’s vehicle towed. This is how five police officers in all find themselves involved in this affair. The man of Cameroonian origin, who has lived in Châteauguay for more than 20 years, is then taken to the garage of a police station, where he is forced to stay in a police car for an hour, despite his requests. repeated attempts to have access to a bathroom, he says.
The father of the family is then taken home, where the police ask him to pick up his belongings, which they have placed on the trunk of the patrol car. Feeling humiliated by this situation, Herbert Moume Eyoum decides instead to go to the entrance of his house. He then claims, photos and medical report in support, to have been brutalized by the police, which would have caused him significant injuries to the left elbow as well as to the head. He went to the emergency room on April 14, 2020 because of the injuries he suffered.
“It’s an aberration, what he went through, this man,” laments the director and responsible for racial profiling and public security of the Red Coalition, Alain Babineau. The latter had contacted Herbert Moume Eyoum on the sidelines of this event, to offer him his support. “It’s a terrible case,” he adds.
Handcuffed, the man was then brought back to the Châteauguay police station, where he was this time imprisoned in a cell overnight. He was finally able to leave the scene the next morning after his wife hired a lawyer during the night, according to his version of the events.
It’s an aberration, what he went through, that man. It is a terrible file.
“We cannot remain speechless. We have to reveal that”, launches theTo have to Herbert Moume Eyoum, who remains marked by this police intervention, which occurred almost three years ago. “I live in fear. I go out less than before,” he confides.
Judicial arm wrestling
Chateauguay police are now suing him in the Court of Quebec on eight Criminal Code charges, to which Herbert Moume Eyoum has pleaded not guilty. The police force accuses him in particular of having driven while intoxicated, of having refused to obey an order and of having obstructed the work of a police officer. A hearing is scheduled for January 2024.
In response, Herbert Moume Eyoum, who is currently doing business with criminal lawyer Alexandra Semillé, filed a complaint on August 27, 2021 with the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ), which is currently conducting an investigation. on this case. The complaint targets the five police officers involved in the intervention of April 12, 2020, during which the resident of Châteauguay alleges that he was the victim of discrimination, racial profiling and police brutality. He is demanding an apology from the police force and financial compensation.
Lawyer Alexandra Semillé also intends to recommend that her client go to the Superior Court against the Service de police de Châteauguay in order to claim “damages and interest”, she indicated to the To have to.
By e-mail, the City of Châteauguay refused to comment on Herbert Moume Eyoum’s file, since he is in court. However, she assures us that her police force “is focusing on close relations, consultation and education” in order to “create bonds of trust” with the residents of the municipality, “where cultures come together on a daily basis”.