MONTREAL - Teacher Farid Charles, 29, was an ardent defender of the local police force but his view was altered after he was arrested outside a Caribbean restaurant on Lafleur Blvd in Lasalle in April 2010.
The officers who tossed him to the ground and handcuffed him, without justification, have been slapped with a 10-day suspension.
The Police Ethics Committee found officers Christopher Brault and Mathieu Boucher-Bacon guilty of four breaches of police code, including illegal arrest.
But the Centre for Race Relations, which has been involved in the complaint, is disappointed that the committee didn’t cite the officers for racial profiling as well.
But Charles said that the complaint was worth pursuing nonetheless.
“Since this happened to me I’ve met a lot of other people who've had worse experiences than I’ve had and they don't know what to do,” said Charles.
"I now know what it feels like to be arrested, but it's not something that I should have been subject to," he said.
One race relations veteran said that the battle is not only against racism, but also against indifference.
“They don't have faith in the system. They don't believe that whatever they do, it will bring results,” said Fo Niemi of CRARR.
The officers have 30 days to appeal the ruling and in most cases an appeal is filed, a process which often tacks on an additional 18 months onto the process.
At that point another ruling will be made either upholding the suspensions or invalidating them.
