Encounters with police paint bleak picture
After picking up supplies for his family from a friend, Abdul Hossain was driving his late-model BMW to his Laval home in the evening when a police cruiser going the other way flashed a spotlight directly into his face. Moments later, two Laval cops, having done a U-turn, had come around from behind him with lights flashing.
Hossain, a 33-year-old Bombardier Aerospace engineer, knew what to expect. This was not the first time — the fourth, actually — he was pulled over for what he viewed as “driving a nice car while not being white.” But this time was different because Hossain had the temerity to ask why he was being stopped.
“He said it was for verification,” recalled Hossain, who moved here with his family from their native Bangladesh when he was six. “He asked for my licence about 10 times within seconds. As I’m looking in my glove box, he’s becoming agitated. Then I realized I left my wallet at home, so I asked if I could call my wife to send a photo of it to my phone.”
It was the officer’s response that floored Hossain: “I don’t know who you are. What if you call your friends and they come with guns to shoot me?”
Next thing Hossain knew, he was being dragged out of his car, handcuffed and was arrested for refusing to identify himself — despite the fact he wasn’t. What resulted was a visit to the station, a busted cellphone and missing earbuds.
After explaining his situation, Hossain was told he could go and wouldn’t be issued any tickets. But when he sought payment days later for his broken cellphone and lost buds, two tickets were issued, one for $64, for not having his licence (which he accepts), but another for $500, for not listening to an order (which he doesn’t accept).
Coincidence? Hossain thinks not.
“When I asked why I was getting the tickets, the cop said it was because I asked for them,” an incredulous Hossain said. “I said who in their right mind ever asks for tickets?”
Hossain has not been compensated for the phone and has asked his lawyer Lloyd Fischler to intervene and contest the bigger ticket.
“I’m now trying to have our nine-month-old son’s last name changed to that of my Caucasian wife because I fear one day he’ll have to go through something like this,” said Hossain, who also feared being photographed here.
Of note, Hossain was stopped for verification on the evening of May 25 — the same day George Floyd was brutally murdered at the knee of a Minneapolis cop.
Coincidence? Hossain’s lawyer Fischler thinks not.
Fischler has been a criminal lawyer for 28 years, and has dealt with several hundred cases of racial profiling.
“I don’t know what else to call this other than systemic racism. It’s way too much to be a coincidence,” Fischler said. “In all these years, I’ve never had a white client pulled over for a routine car check, walking off the sidewalk or spitting. Not one. It’s only my Black and other visible minority clients.”
Nor do these cases show signs of abating now, despite increased awareness and police being under the microscope these days.
“I guess it stems from a culture in which some cops have gotten used to getting away with it. Under the highway code now, police have this power to do routine checks without a pretext, and the pretexts are never-ending. There are all these bylaws they can ticket you for no reason. And if whoever they’re profiling doesn’t play ball, suddenly it becomes obstruction of justice.”
One would imagine that video evidence might make a difference.
“Not really,” Fischler said. “I can’t tell you how many clients have told me the police erased the video in front of their eyes — with a witness shooting it. What we do see is just the tip of the iceberg. Bottom line: these profiling stops are just so traumatizing, especially not knowing where it can all lead.”
Fischler has one client who has been stopped in his Porsche over a dozen times and fears for his life. He also knows two highly respected Black city lawyers who’ve been stopped several times.
“Unbelievable,” he added. “People think this is an urban American thing, a legacy of slavery. But, sadly, it’s alive and well here.”