A Montreal man says he feels vindicated after winning $33,000 in a racial profiling case against the Montreal police.

Four years after a police officer dragged him out of a car and fined him for "wandering without being able to justify his presence," the city of Montreal has been ordered to pay Farid Charles $33,000.

Charles said he is happy with his victory, but would rather it had never happened in the first place.

"I don't have room for animosity or hatred in my heart, but I'm not going to forget what happened," said Charles.

The events began in 2010 when Charles was sitting in the passenger seat of a car parked in front of a strip mall on Lafleur Blvd. in Lasalle, waiting for a friend to pick up food from a Caribbean take-out restaurant.

A police officer then opened the driver side door and and asked Charles for the car's licence and registration.

Charles did not have that information since it was not his vehicle.

Police then asked Charles for identification and he refused to provide it, wanting to know who was questioning him and why.

Charles said the officer then took him out of the car and pinned him to the ground.

"It's something that I experienced and I wouldn't want anyone else to experience," he said.

He said the officer punched him in the face before fining his for being "found wandering without being able to justify his presence."

"Your body's just frozen, you feel cold all of sudden? That's how I felt when in the handcuffs. I was on my back and I was being yanked up," he said.

The fine was eventually dropped because he was arrested while in a parking lot, which is private property, and where the city bylaw does not apply.

In 2010 Police chief inspector Paul Chablo said the actions of officers were justified because the car had no license plate, there had been a number of burglaries in the neighbourhood, and Charles was not co-operating.

"In this case, the officers repeatedly tried to ask the individual why he was there. He categorically refused so they arrested him, which they were justified in doing," Chablo told CTV News in 2010.

 

Police Ethics Committee suspended officers

Charles filed a complaint with the police ethics commissioner and in Feb. 2013 the Ethics Committee agreed that officers Christopher Brault and Mathieu Boucher-Bacon had acted incorrectly.

The Committee ruled the two officers were guilty of four breaches of the police code of ethics, including illegal arrest and excessive force.

Brault and Boucher-Bacon were suspended for ten days.

However the Ethics Committee disagreed that the pair were guilty of racial profiling, something which stunned Charles.

"The kids I teach and the kids I coach basketball with, they can't go through this," said Charles.

Human Rights Commission ruling

The case was not over, however.

Charles had also filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, and it is this body which has determined that the two Montreal police officers were guilty of racial profiling.

The Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations says the victory is precedent-setting because it includes a $25,000 penalty for moral damages due to racial profiling.

Fo Niemi of CRARR said the normal amount awarded is between $10 and $15,000.

"We interpret this $25,000 amount of damages as a signal that the Human Rights Commission is sending to the city of Montreal and the Montreal police service that it has to take racial profiling seriously," he said.

"Racial profiling costs the city a lot of money. This is taxpayers' money and we're continuously paying for cases for wrongdoing instead of saying 'you know what, let's fix these wrongdoings so we are not wasting taxpayers' dollars,'" said Charles.

Sensitivity training

Racial profiling is an issue Fady Dagher takes seriously. A Montreal police officer, Dagher heads up the Montreal police department's action plan against racial and social profiling. Montreal police are required to take courses at every stage of their career, including in training, on the issue.

"Not to judge; to make sure that the intervention is impartial," he said. "More and more we have immigration more and more the police officers are facing complex calls."