Police racially profiled man in 2017 arrest, commission says
Three years after he was violently arrested by Montreal police in a case of mistaken identity, it isn’t so much the excessive force used that still bothers Errol Burke, but rather how quickly the officers resorted to it.
Burke, a Black man, had gone to his local dépanneur to buy milk when police officers pointed their guns at him, threw him to the ground and dragged him outside.
They later told him he matched the description of a suspect in a nearby stabbing.
“The only thing police used to make the decision to treat me as a dangerous suspect was the colour of my skin,” Burke, 58, said during a news conference Sunday. “Twenty-five seconds of asking me who I was … would have been enough to make sure none of it happened.”
After three challenging years, Burke received some slight comfort last month: the Quebec Human Rights Commission has found police racially profiled him that night and used excessive force.
The commission is calling on the force and officers involved to pay Burke a total of $45,000 in damages.
It is also demanding the force strengthen its racial and social profiling strategic plan to include more measures addressing biases among its officers, especially toward Black people.
The suggestions are not binding, however. If the police department doesn’t comply, the commission could bring the case to the Human Rights Tribunal, which then has the power to enforce the measures and financial penalty.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, Burke said he hopes his case can lead to changes within the police force to ensure similar arrests never happen again.
Burke had taken his bike to the Côte-des-neiges store around 9:30 p.m. that night. He was just about to enter when the officers charged him.
He was tackled into the wall and thrown to the ground in the store’s entrance. He was then dragged outside and handcuffed. He says he told the officers he lives just around the corner and insisted on knowing why they were arresting him. But he was instead told to stay quiet.
While releasing him, officers finally told him he matched the description of a suspect they were looking for.
Burke immediately knew that meant another Black man, but he would only later find out the details. The man police were seeking was in his 20s and was six feet tall. Burke was 54 at the time and is five feet, seven inches tall.
“I was also dressed completely differently than the suspect,” he said. “It’s not just the fact that the police made a mistake, but the fact that when they jumped me ... they did so with no information.”
The Centre for Research-action on Race Relations (CRARR) has helped Burke with his human-rights complaint.
Burke had also filed a complaint with the Quebec police ethics commissioner, but it was dismissed in 2017. CRARR helped him appeal that decision and it was eventually overturned.
In February, the two main officers involved, Pierre Auger and Jean-philippe Théorêt, were cited for racial discrimination and using excessive force, among other violations.
The Montreal police force has vowed to address biases within the department after a scathing report released last October found Black, Indigenous and Arab people are far more likely to be stopped by police in the city.
In early July, the force released its new policy on street checks, to be implemented this fall. Police Chief Sylvain Caron hailed it as an important first step in addressing systemic racism.
On Sunday, Burke said he hopes real change is coming.
“I’ve seen announcements about what they’re going to do, but I haven’t actually seen them do anything yet,” he said. “It’s 2020, but you can go back to the ’60s or further and the exact same sort of thing was happening.”