Mamadi Camara testifies at trial of man accused of attempting to kill Montreal police officer

A Montreal man who was falsely accused of trying to kill a police officer two years ago was back in court Tuesday.

Except this time, he is a witness against the actual suspect in the crime.

Montreal police officer Sanjay Vig was giving a traffic ticket to Mamadi Camara on Jan. 28, 2021, in Park Extension. But someone emerged in the dark and hit the officer from behind.

Camara witnessed the scene and was the first to call 911.

A recording of the 911 call was played in court.

"An officer stopped me, and then someone hit him, the officer fled and left his car behind, then I heard a gunshot," Camara told the operator in the recording.

But as Camara was about to leave the scene, police drew their guns and arrested him, because Vig mistakenly identified him as the suspect, who was also Black, who assaulted him.

It took police almost a week to release Camara from jail until they arrested someone else in the case. That person is Ali Ngarukiye.

Camara testified for the prosecution about what he witnessed that day, including his own brutal arrest. Under cross-examination, he also told the defence that what police considered an error in good faith, was, in fact, a case of racial profiling.

Ngarukiye is now on trial for the attempted murder of the police officer.

During its opening statement, the Crown told the jury it intended to prove that the accused carefully planned his attack days before by stealing several possible getaway cars. Fingerprints and DNA evidence eventually led to his arrest in Ontario.

Ngarukiye has pleaded not guilty and is represented by lawyers Moana Franco and Sharon Sandiford, who specialize in cases involving racial profiling.

The jury was told the case would last at least three months.