2 men file complaints against Montreal police after an allegedly violent jaywalking arrest in NDG
CBC
Two PhD students walking home after a night out in Montreal's west end decided to skirt around a police operation by stepping into the empty road.
Within minutes they found themselves slammed against a fence in what they say was a violent arrest — one with his arms twisted to the near breaking point and the other his legs spread so far apart that his pants tore and both his knees were injured.
"It was confusing because I didn't really understand what was going on," said Amaechi Okafor, a Black man from Nigeria who came to Montreal three years ago to pursue a doctorate in history at Concordia University.
Speaking during a Friday news conference organized by the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), Okafor's voice shook as he recounted what happened at around 3 a.m. on St-Jacques Street in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) on July 22.
"All of a sudden I was pinned to the fence wall by several officers, and I had my hands handcuffed," he said.
CRARR announced on Friday it is helping the men file complaints with Quebec's police ethics commissioner and the human rights and youth rights commission.
The complaints include racial profiling, abuse of authority, excessive force and other civil rights violations, the organization said.
And it all started when the two men decided not to walk through a police operation.
"It just makes no sense," Niemi said. "Something has to change."
Okafor's friend, Wade Paul, is a member of St. Mary's Maliseet First Nation in New Brunswick. Like Okafor, he is also pursuing a history doctorate.
There were multiple police cruisers, roof lights on, and several officers surrounding a person draped in an emergency blanket impeding their walk back to Okafor's apartment, he said.
They were near the Helen-Rochester Street intersection — an area with no other intersections nearby so there is no convenient place to cross the street.
Section 452 of the province's Highway Safety Code says: "Where it is impossible to use the sidewalk, a pedestrian may walk alongside the curb on the roadway after ascertaining that he can do so in safety."
Fo Niemi, executive director of CRARR, pointed out that there was no vehicle traffic given the hour, so it was safe to walk in the street.
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WARNING: This story contains profanity and details of racist language.