Mayor, police call video of officers ‘concerning’
Resident says she was left ‘traumatized’ from interaction with cops responding to call for neighbour dispute; investigation initiated
Hamilton police are investigating a “concerning” interaction between a citizen and two officers that was captured on video and posted to social media.
The verbal exchange ended with one of the officers jumping toward the door as it’s closed.
The resident whom police were speaking with during the incident told The Spectator that the exchange left her “traumatized.”
The Spectator agreed not to name her because, as a trans and disabled person, she fears for her safety.
In the video, which was posted to Twitter on Thursday, the officers and the resident have a heated exchange through a closed door during what police describe as a “neighbour dispute call.”
After the video made the rounds on social media, both Hamilton police and Mayor Fred Eisenberger called it concerning.
“A recent video showing a tense interaction between a resident and two Hamilton Police Service officers is concerning,” the mayor said in an emailed statement, noting he looks forward to the outcome of an investigation.
In their own statement, police also called the video concerning and said the video was sent to their professional standards branch, which investigates breaches in professional conduct by police.
The video starts with two officers knocking on the door of an apartment. One of the officers appears to notice a camera above the door, looks directly into it and points it out to the other officer.
The resident opens the door a crack and says it’s not “really a good moment for me to come out right now.” She takes the lead in the conversation, telling the officers she knows they are there for a complaint from a neighbour. She tells officer to look at their file, where they would see complaints from the past, allegedly from the superintendent of the building.
As the officer is speaking to the resident about the property damage complaint, she interjects multiple times and asks the officer not to “speak to me like that” while insisting there has not been any property damage.
The officer, with his face pushed into the door crack, raises his voice, asks if he can “finish my sentence.” Eventually, he speaks over the resident, saying she is “unreasonable” and won’t listen.
The officer finally shouts: “If you damage his property, you are going to be arrested. So do not damage anything. Is that clear?”
As the officers turn and leave, the resident opens the door and says: “Enjoy your bullying of a position.”
The officer then makes a swift lunge back toward the door as it is slammed shut. The officers can be heard chuckling as they then walk out of frame.
Speaking to The Spectator, the resident said there have been ongoing issues in the building where she rents an apartment.
She confirmed the video was captured on the afternoon of Thursday by a security camera outside of her apartment and then posted to Twitter, as well as YouTube, by others.
“I was really traumatized,” she said. “I didn’t want to post it to any account that was linked to me.”
The tenant said the police were called to the building by her superintendent after a brief interaction between the two of them in the stairwell. She says police have since confirmed that there was not any damage.
She claims the superintendent has made “multiple nuisance calls” against her in an attempt to make her feel “unsafe.”
The Spectator tried unsuccessfully to reach the superintendent for comment.
Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman said, given the investigation into the interaction, police “will not be responding further.”
The resident said anyone should “be able to look at a cop and say ‘I don’t like how you’re doing your job; I think you’re being a bully,’ without the fear of them lunging at them.”