Montreal church worker humiliated after alleged police racial profiling
Charlene Hunte says she was on her way to the Union United Church in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood when suddenly she was stopped by police.
She says officers told her the tinted windows on her car were illegal.
"I said, 'OK, give me a citation, I have 24 hours. But I got to go, I got to go deal with the homeless, I got to open the food bank and tomorrow I'll go to the nearest police station.' And I would show them that I took it off," she said. "'No, no, no, no, it doesn't work that way, you got to do it now.'"
Hunte claims the officer told her to scrape the tint off using a quarter or she would have her vehicle towed.
When she couldn't find a coin, she says the officer gave her a pocket knife.
"I was given a knife to take off a tint. What if somebody saw it was me holding a knife at an officer and they tried to... all of that came to my mind," she said.
The Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) says it has reason to believe Hunte's race may have played a part in the incident.
"It's all these unusual...practices that seem to really go against the norm," said CRARR Executive Director Fo Niemi. "That why the first thing that came to my mind was DWB, driving while Black."
Charlene Hunte says she was on her way to the Union United Church in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood when suddenly she was stopped by police. (Laurence Brisson-Dubreuil/CTV News)
As Hunte was removing the tint, she says three police cruisers surrounded her car.
"I don't know of any white person ever being on TV saying, "oh I got stopped for a tint,'" she said. "It's always a Black person. That's the point."
Lawyer Eric Lamontagne says in his 25-year career, he's never heard of someone being forced to remove tints on the side of the road.
"Why not just give her a ticket and actually give her the chance to defend herself if she wants to do so?" he asks.
Montreal police (SPVM) told CTV News it could not speak about a specific case, but in a statement said the force "does not tolerate disrespect, misconduct, harassment or criminal acts by any members of its staff."
Hunte says she plans to file a formal complaint with Montreal police in the hopes that this never happens again.
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