Man with no mask arrested at Tim Hortons

Police were called to intervene Saturday after a man refused to wear a mask inside a Montreal Tim Hortons.

When the man refused to leave or co-operate with police, he was pepper-sprayed and tackled to the ground before being escorted out.

Saturday was the first day masks were required in indoor public spaces across Quebec.

Management called police to the restaurant when the man refused to wear a mask while ordering. Police first asked him to leave, but he refused.

A four-minute video of the incident was posted to Facebook by a woman who says she’s the man’s girlfriend.

The video had been shared more than 82,000 times as of Sunday afternoon.

The woman who posted the video wrote (in French): “Look what we’ve come to over a (expletive) mask.”

In the video, the man can be heard twice telling officers, “I’m allowed to order without a mask.”

Two officers then wrestle him to the ground when he refuses to leave the restaurant. A third officer later came in to help.

“For a mask! For a mask!” the woman says during the video. “Everyone wake up, this is where we’re heading.”

The man was released following the arrest and will appear in court at a later date for obstructing a police officer’s work.

The incident took place in Villeray—st-michel— Parc-extension.

Asked about the video on Sunday, Montreal police spokesperson André Durocher said the officers were left with no choice but to use physical force to make the man leave.

“Using physical force, no matter how you look at it, is never very elegant, but it’s a reality that comes with the job. If that person complies and leaves, it doesn’t happen,” Durocher said.

“The person was not obligated to stay inside the coffee shop. If he didn’t want to stay, he could have gone outside,” he said. “But (he) refused to comply and resisted.”

Durocher said the restaurant’s management did the right thing by calling the police. It isn’t up to managers or store owners to get into physical confrontations when people refuse to wear masks, he said.

Durocher couldn’t say how many similar calls Montreal police received over the weekend, but said the force is compiling data on the issue and could release it on Monday.

“I doubt very much we’ve had many calls,” he said. “From speaking to officers on the ground, the vast majority of people, 99.9 per cent of people, comply.”