A Cote-des-Neiges man is calling on police to wear body cameras, alleging that Montreal officers were violent towards him in the midst of a crisis.
Feeling overwhelmed and alone on Saturday, Brandon Wrightson called a suicide prevention hotline on Saturday, but it didn’t go well.
“He kept asking about suicide this, suicide that – have you ever thought about how you would do it? It just made me so much worse, it made me focus on the negative. I wanted to focus on the positive like how do I get out this hole right now,” he said.
He hung up the phone.
Suicide Action Montreal has a protocol for cases like that.
“Sometimes during a call, a person hangs up and after trying several times to reach them to ensure they're safe, if we can't reach them, that person will consult with others to figure out the best course of action,” explained Luc Vallerand, director of the suicide prevention group.
“If we think that a person isn't safe based on the information we have, we call 911.”
It's then up to police to take the next step.
“We try, of course, to reason with the person,” said Montreal police Insp. Andre Durocher. “If the person doesn't want to follow us or doesn't want to reason, or if we fear the person leads us to believe they are a danger for themselves or someone else, then we'll intervene for their protection to bring them to the hospital.”
Wrightson said when the police arrived at his home, he was on the phone with his mother and was feeling better.
He alleged he was cooperating with them until they took away his phone and wouldn't let him reach out to his mother, who was scared for her son.
That's when he said they became violent with him.
“I understand why the police came. I understand why the man made the call to the police. He was trying to keep me and other people safe, which I totally agree with, you did what you thought was right out of the goodness of your heart, but there was no need for the officers to be that many, for them to be that violent,” said Wrightson.
He's now calling for body cameras on cops to ensure accountability during crisis intervention.
The Old Brewery Mission is working with Montreal police on making these interventions safer for everyone and they say it requires more than cameras.
“Body cams alone won’t work,” said Georges Ohana, one of the mission’s directors. “The issue at hand is to be able to offer training to police to make them more accountable, both through the body cam and also through the training.”
Wrightson said as a result of this ordeal, he has been connected to a counsellor who can give him the help he needs.
