2 Montreal police officers suspended without pay for racial profiling

Two Montreal police officers have been suspended for more than a month without pay for racial profiling during a traffic stop in March 2019.

Officers Carlos-Antonio Flores and Michael Mayer stopped Stanley Jossirain solely because he was a young Black man, acting without reasonable suspicion, according to the ruling by Quebec's police ethics tribunal that was published on March 12.

The two officers also detained his three Black friends in the car without proper cause and without explaining the reason, the ruling says.

The officers then issued two unwarranted tickets to Jossirain and engaged in misconduct that included cutting passenger Derek Durand's health card in two.

As a result, on Sept. 1, the tribunal found the officers guilty of various breaches of police conduct, including acting on racial grounds, unlawfully detaining Jossirain and issuing tickets without justification. Officer Mayer was also found guilty of damaging Durand's property.

The tribunal ruled that "racial profiling was the backdrop to the entire police intervention."

Indicators of racial profiling started as soon as Const. Flores made a U-turn to intercept the vehicle,  the tribunal ruled. 

The officers insistence on identifying the car's occupants, issuing of frivolous tickets and destruction of Durant's health card were "to different degrees and in their own way, indicators of the racial profiling of which Mr. Jossirain was a victim," the ruling says.

Sgt. Mayer was suspended for a total of 36 days and Const. Flores for a total of 33 days.

In a statement, Jossirain said he is happy with the decision because "racial profiling exists still today and I know that sometimes it's not easy, but we must always denounce, because we all have the same rights no matter our nationality, our religion, our identity, our differences."

He said police officers have a duty to protect and serve, rather than harm the safety and health of citizens, and what he experienced can reach a point of destroying someone's life.

"I hope that the police officers who will read this decisions will be more careful with their actions," he said.

The advocacy group, the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), helped Jossirain file a complaint with Quebec's Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission and with the province's police ethics tribunal.

CRARR executive director Fo Niemi said the police intervention didn't involve violence, but there was abuse of power. He pointed out that the two tickets, one for failure to use a turn signal and the other for obstructing police work, were later dismissed in court.