After Montreal police pepper-spray man in mental crisis, advocates call for more training, support

Montreal police were caught on camera pepper-spraying a man's face at close range Monday morning, and as the video circulates on social media, advocates have renewed calls for a change in the way officers respond to mental crises.

"They exposed the person to more trauma than is necessary," said Jean-François Plouffe of Action Autonomie, a group that defends the rights of those with mental illness.

"They should have stayed away and kept a vocal link with the person while waiting for someone else to come, an ambulance to come to take him to the hospital or psycho-social experts who could have taken charge."

CBC Montreal has viewed a five-minute, unedited version of the video. The audio is unintelligible, but it shows a group of four officers surrounding a person of colour whose hands are clasped in front of him, his back against a car.

The officers attempt to restrain the man, grabbing him around the neck and arms. The man bends at the waist, lifting one of the officers off his feet. The man was not lashing out violently, though he resisted being restrained.

The officers then back off. One pulls out a taser and points it at the man. Another approaches and deploys a steady stream of pepper spray at the man's face at close range. The man appears unaffected at first, and the officer sprays a second time.

Finally, the man drops to the pavement, face down in an almost fetal position and is taken into custody.

As it turns out, it was the man's friend who had called the police and asked for help, according to Montreal police spokesperson Const. Manuel Couture.

The man was unstable, not himself and could be aggressive, the friend told police, said Couture.

Officers located him on Hutchison Street in Outremont a short time later, at 7:15 a.m., he said.

The officers, speaking to him outside of his vehicle, determined the man was not stable as he was speaking "nonsense," Couture said.

The man tried to get back into his car, and officers attempted to stop him, Couture said. One of the officer's hands was hurt, and the other officers struggled to restrain him due to his strength, he said.

That's when officers decided to back off and use pepper spray, Couture said. The man was taken to hospital to evaluate his mental health and to be treated for the pepper spray. It is too early to say if the man will face charges, Couture said.

CBC was unable to contact the man in the video, and police could not provide an update on his condition.