Man arrested, pepper sprayed during Grand Prix weekend claims racial profiling
A man arrested and pepper sprayed by police for honking his car horn during Grand Prix weekend has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. Daniel Louis says that on a night when countless cars parade down Ste-Catherine St. and honk their horns, he was targeted because of the colour of his skin. Police contend Louis was asked to show his identification so they could cite him for excessive noise and that his refusal to do so triggered the arrest. “I was reaching for my papers when they arrested me; I didn’t even have time to put the car in park,” Louis said at a news conference Wednesday. “There were cars doing burnouts, cars honking; it’s just the ambience of Grand Prix weekend. I didn’t see anyone else get arrested.” After being pulled from the car and pepper sprayed, Louis and his girlfriend were handcuffed. He was taken to a nearby command centre and subsequently charged with obstruction and resisting arrest. Police also fined the couple $888 for excessive noise. Footage of the incident appears to show police aiming the pepper spray can into the crowd. The Sûreté du Québec is investigating the officer’s use of force from that evening to see if it was excessive. Although the Crown ended up dropping the criminal charges, Louis is still on the hook for the fine. He initially wondered if his arrest was racially motivated but says he is now convinced it was. “If I were a white male with grey hair, would the officer have been so aggressive,” he asked. “I don’t think so. I doubt it. … The situation escalated so quickly, we were having a conversation one moment and the next we’re being attacked. “It was so savage, so brutal.” Louis and girlfriend, Gertrude Dubois, say they had never experienced racial profiling before the June 9 incident. That night, he brought his ’66 Chevrolet Impala downtown to show it off alongside scores of other muscle cars. Over the years, seeing the parade of classic and custom cars cruise down Ste-Catherine St. has become a staple of Grand Prix weekend. People holler at the drivers and cars honk at each other in what Louis and others describe as the
I was reaching for my papers when they arrested me; I didn’t even have time to put the car in park.
“typical Grand Prix ambience.” Now, Louis says he gets nervous whenever he’s about to take his car out for a spin. “When I see the police and I’m driving, my hands shake, my heart starts beating faster,” Louis said. “It has totally destroyed my confidence in police. I don’t want to paint them all with the same brush; I know there are good ones, but it was such a horrible, unnecessary experience.” Louis has also filed a complaint with Quebec’s police ethics commissioner. He’s enlisted the help of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR) in his case. “The testimonies and the video lead us to believe that there was indeed, on the part of the officers implicated, abuse of power, zeal, excessive force and a lack of consideration for the integrity of the couple,” said Alain Babineau, a retired RCMP officer and an adviser with CRARR. Dubois says she worries about her nine-year-old son and whether he’ll get fair treatment in his interactions with police when he grows up. “I’m already talking to him about it,” she said. “We’re already having these difficult conversations. These are the people who are meant to protect and serve us. We question that now.”