Two Black teenagers who allege Montreal police officers kneeled on their necks during a violent arrest in June 2021 have launched a $150,000 lawsuit against the police service and accused the officers of racial profiling.

One of the police interventions was captured on video and circulated widely online last summer and drew heavy criticism from the public and even Premier François Legault.

The statement of claim, filed in Superior Court last December, claims damages on behalf of the teens and their families and accuses the officers involved of using “excessive and unreasonable force.” The two boys, who were 15 at the time of the incident, cannot be named because of their age.

The lawsuit reveals publicly for the first time that there were allegedly two instances of police kneeling on the boys’ necks in separate incidents near the corner Rousselot and Jarry streets.

“When the plaintiffs left school that day they certainly did not expect to be unjustifiable assaulted by police officers,” the lawsuit alleged.

“They expected even last that the Montreal police officers would be kneeling on them in 2021 in the wake of the events surrounding the death of George Floyd.”

None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven or tested in court.

According to the lawsuit, in the lead-up to the June 10, 2021 arrests, one of the teens was walking to meet a group of friends near his school when he saw an officer running after another person and then grabbing him. The teen plaintiff wasn’t involved and was crossing the street when suddenly officers ran in his direction, “brutally” detained him, and put him in handcuffs.

One of the officers allegedly put his knee on his neck while his bag was being searched. “Upon arrest, [the teen] did not resist and made it clear to the officers that they were hurting him,” the lawsuit alleged.

After some time, the officers put him in a cruiser and were asked by the teen why he was being arrested, to which one of the officers allegedly responded, “I don’t answer to morons.”

The teen was charged with jaywalking and obstructing a police officer, all of which are still being contested in court.

In another incident nearby on the same afternoon, police officers pursued another group of teenagers near a bus shelter. During the intervention, a police officer pushed a teen into the bus stop and started searching his bag, the lawsuit alleged.

One of the teens did not consent to having his bag searched and tried to pull it back when he was tackled to the ground by two officers.

“For quite some time and without any reason, one of the officers held a heavy pressure on the back of [his] neck while he had his face on the ground” and the repositioned himself by “putting his knee on the back of [his] neck with almost his full weight,” the statement of claim alleged.

Police officers Samuel Lalonde, Simon-Pierre Lemieux, officer “Lacombe” (whose first name was not published), and the City of Montreal are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said the ordeal has also taken a toll on the boy’s parents who are originally from Haiti and “never thought that by coming to Quebec their children could be victims of such an attack,” according to the lawsuit.

Reached for comment on Friday, the boys’ lawyer, Fernando Belton, said the behaviour of the police involved was unacceptable.

“White teenagers are not treated that way by police officers. My clients want to get reparation for the harm that has been done to them but also send a strong message to the police and the city that violence against black children is totally unacceptable and they need to be held accountable,” he said in a statement to CTV News.

“My clients are recovering from both their physical and psychological injuries they suffered from that intervention.”

The teens are also seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Montreal police from kneeling on the necks of minors to restrain them, “except when the situation involves a danger of serious bodily injury or death for any person involved.”

Montreal police on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit since the case is before the court.

In an email to CTV News last June following the incident, Montreal police said at the time that, “although the neck control technique is not involved in this situation, it should be noted that it is part of the National Use of Force Model” that is taught at Quebec’s policing school, the École nationale de police du Québec (ÉNPQ).

“Applied in a specific context and under specific circumstances, it allows for the control of a suspect with a greatly reduced risk of injury, compared to the use of some intermediate weapons,” the email stated.

With files from CTV Montreal's Selena Ross