Black man wins racial profiling case against Laval police officer

MONTREAL – A Laval police officer created a racist profile during a gas stop at a gas station in 2017 and violated the code of ethics by bumping into him and deleting the cellphone record of the man who interacted with it, the Quebec Police Ethics Committee ruled.

In a shocking decision published last week, the panel punished officer Michael Boutin for knocking the Samsung phone out of the man’s hand and then getting him to unlock it so he could delete the footage.

At the end of the May 14, 2017 argument at the Laval gas station over an alleged distracted driving violation, the officer told Black Content that he was lucky enough to live in Quebec, not the United States, “because they like people shoot “you there”, so the verdict.

Content shot back: “But at least the police are shot back.”

At a virtual press conference on Friday, Content said it was a “tough and grueling” way to hold officers accountable, but is satisfied with the committee’s decision.

“This is not something you would like to hear. I wasn’t afraid – I was shocked, “said Content of the official’s” condescending “comments that day.

He admitted that without the surveillance footage from the gas station on Laurentides Boulevard, the case could have turned out very differently.

“The footage from the gas station saved me because he deleted the footage I originally had. That leaves me with nothing that is terrifying, ”he said.

The official handed Content a $ 127 parking ticket after the 2017 encounter. Not only did he deny – and win – the ticket, he also filed complaints with the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, and the provincial police ethics committee about his treatment four years ago.

While his case is still pending in the tribunal, he won the case before the Human Rights Commission back in October 2020 and received $ 24,000 in damages.

OFFICIAL GUILTY OF SIX BREACHES OF THE CODE OF ETHICS

In a second victory, the police ethics committee declared in its November 18 ruling that it confirmed six of the 12 violations against Boutin.

Content testified that he did not pull out his cell phone to film until after he got out of his Cadillac Escalade at the gas station, when he noticed Boutin had followed him briefly in his squad car, but Boutin claimed the man had started hitting him filming before he got out of the car in violation of the Road Traffic Act.

However, the committee did not buy the officer’s version of the events and largely described his statements as not only implausible, but also “ridiculous” and “implausible”.

For example, the officer informed the committee that Content held the cell phone in front of him during the recording, but surveillance footage showed that Content was holding it at chest level and not “gesturing”.

At that moment, the officer knocked Contents’ left hand, which was holding the phone, on the ground and pushed him into his car. Content had mobility problems at the time and used a stick.

“RACE PLAYED A DEFINITIVE ROLE”

The man said he started filming the officer because he said he had been harassed by police in the past and wanted to protect his rights.

The committee found that the intervention was racially motivated and described the officer’s behavior as “overzealous” and “excessive”.

“The panel believes Mr. Content’s race played a crucial role in Constable Boutin’s decision to stop him,” the ruling reads.

“While Constable Boutin had a reasonable reason to stop Mr. Content, he had no reason to act the way he did when he slapped Mr. Content’s hand and pushed him.”

Content said the ordeal scared him of the police and he won’t feel safe until there are dashcams in police cars because “cameras don’t lie”.

“There are nice officers, but the bad ones need to be exterminated and watched,” he said on Friday.

Laval Police did not immediately respond to CTV News’ requests to comment on the outcome of the case.

CITIZENS HAVE THE RIGHT TO FILM THE POLICE

Courts have ruled on several occasions that citizens have the right to film police officers performing their duties, and the panel in Boutin’s case has reiterated this.

“Official Boutin was even less entitled to destroy the video himself, especially since the video is evidence and deleting it violates Mr. Content’s rights,” the verdict said.

A 2016 ruling by the Police Ethics Committee said that filming officers with cell phone cameras has become easy and that nothing prevents a person from breaking records when they see a police officer.

“The policeman has to deal with this reality now.”

POLICE EXTRACT “CLEARLY PRESENT IN QUEBEC”: STUDY

This could explain why a new study released Tuesday found that more and more police officers in Quebec are breaking away from the public eye and avoiding certain situations.

Fear of being filmed was cited as one of the most common reasons for de-policing, according to a study by Camille Faubert, a researcher at the cole nationale de Police du Québec, the Quebec police academy.

The study was limited, however, as only 186 police officers across the province were interviewed and 21 agreed to be interviewed, including sergeants, constables and captains.

Of the 21 officers surveyed, eight said they had withdrawn in certain situations, while 16 said they had observed the behavior of other officers.

One of the officers told the researchers that he lamented the fact that police officers are being watched so closely.

“We can have disciplinary consequences in the discipline and we can be prosecuted for doing our job,” said the official.

“The fact that we have three authorities to beat us on when something is not perfect. I think this is also … this is one of the things that can scare people into doing their job. “

Content responded to the report on Friday, telling reporters that it believed police officers should focus more on acting appropriately and worry less about public scrutiny.

“As long as you treat someone the way they should be treated, you shouldn’t have to worry about cameras,” he said.

“If you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have to worry.”

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations in Montreal, assisted Content with his complaints to regulators about his ordeal. He hopes the lengthy process for content doesn’t stop other people from complaining about police misconduct.

“The process is complicated, it is time-consuming,” he said, “but people shouldn’t be afraid of all these obstacles and people have to be really determined and persistent.”

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/they-shoot-people-like-you-black-man-wins-racial-profiling-case-against-laval-police-officer-1.5682868