RCMP dashcam video shows officer tackling, punching Chief Allan Adam during arrest

drive, and then the officer began knocking on the window.

More officers arrived during the ensuing altercation, and Adam said one of the officers “just gave me a, what you would call in the wrestling world, a clothesline.”

He said blood was gushing from his mouth and as he fought to maintain consciousness, he was being struck repeatedly on the back. “Every time our people do wrong … [the RCMP] always seem to use excessive force and that has to stop,” Adam told reporters Saturday. “Enough is enough.”

Adam said that if he wasn’t a member of a minority group, he wouldn’t have been subjected to violence for an expired vehicle registration. He views the violent incident as part of a broader pattern of harassment by police of minorities across Canada. Saturday’s news conference occurred amidst a paroxysm of mass demonstrations, some violent, across the United States, Canada and the world following the murder of George

Floyd, a Black man, by police in Minneapolis. Adam’s allegations of police brutality and the photo of his battered face have received widespread attention at anti-racism rallies, which attracted large crowds across the country.

RCMP says Adam resisted arrest

In an emailed statement Saturday, Wood Buffalo RCMP said officers had observed the expired licence plate on Adam’s truck and when he returned to the vehicle, a confrontation occurred. RCMP said Adam was placed under arrest, resisted the arrest, and officers “were required to use force to effect the arrest.”

RCMP charged Adam with one count each of resisting arrest and assaulting a peace officer. He is to appear in court July 2. After reviewing the dashcam video of the incident, senior officers determined the arresting officers’ actions were reasonable “and did not meet the threshold for an external investigation.”

But Alberta’s director of law enforcement subsequently directed the Alberta Serious

Incident Response Team to conduct an investigation since a criminal allegation had been made about police by Adam and his lawyer. Trudeau ‘deeply alarmed’

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was deeply troubled by Adam’s allegations and vowed to bring in “significant, concrete and rapid measures” to address systemic racism in policing.

“We have obviously all seen and been deeply alarmed by the pictures that Chief Adam shared,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau ‘deeply alarmed’ by brutality claims during arrest of Alberta Indigenous chief Video shows Winnipeg police kicking, kneeing man during arrest

The prime minister added his voice to concerns already raised by two other federal ministers, including Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief, who said in a tweet that the government will be paying close attention to the independent inquiry into Adam’s allegations.

Also on Monday, the commanding officer of the RCMP in Alberta publicly denied there was systemic racism in policing in Canada. Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki told a news conference in Edmonton that he didn’t believe there was systemic racism in policing in Canada or in Alberta. Alberta RCMP deputy commissioner denies systemic racism in policing in Canada

In a statement issued later, Zablocki walked back his claim, at least in part.

“We all acknowledge that racist individuals can be anywhere throughout our society and institutions — and we have acknowledged that organizationally in the RCMP.”·