Camara's lawyers dispute finding of no racial profiling in wrongful arrest; lawsuit will go ahead
Mamadi Camara’s lawyers insist he’s a victim of racial profiling in his high-profile wrongful arrest last winter, despite a Quebec judge’s report finding otherwise.
They called those findings one-sided and are moving ahead with their lawsuit against police.
Camara was charged with disarming a police officer and attempting to kill him, but police had the wrong man. Camara had been pulled over earlier for using his cellphone while driving.
A new report says police mishandled the investigation. But Camara’s legal team say they want more.
“We wanted a more transparent inquiry with [the] possibility [to] counter-interrogate witnesses, and this is not what happened,” said lawyer Virginie Dufresne Lemire.
“It is closed and not transparent inquiry that happened.”
Anti-racism advocate Fo Niemi, who often advises people with police-related complaints, said the report is “a police version” of what happened.
“Of course we cannot 100-per-cent count this report as a definite version of what happened,” he said.
Camara declined to particate in Dionne’s investigation, a decision his lawyers defended.
“The involvement they were proposing is that only he would be meet for few hours with the judge, and for us this is not enough,” said Dufresne Lemire.
“We want him to be able to participate, know what witnesses are saying, to be able to ask questions.”
They’ll be able to do all that within the process for the lawsuit Camara filed against the city and the police in July.
“What we hope to see in this civil case before the courts will be truth and nothing but the truth, because there’s a lot missing in the report,” said Niemi.
Camara is seeking $1.2 million in damages. No date has been set yet for the case to be heard.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.