MONTREAL – A video showing an altercation and the arrest of a young man in Montreal has gone viral.
Since it was posted on August 7, there have been over 426,000 hits on YouTube and World Star Hip Hop.
In the video, a young man is shown in a confrontation with two Montreal police officers.
The three and a half minute clip was distributed widely via Twitter by @SkiMaskGhost, who tweeted a link to the video to Montreal media, festivals and international stars, including Justin Bieber, Marilyn Manson and Carly Rae Jepson.
@SkiMaskGhost told Global News that the young man involved in the altercation was a 17-year-old from Rivière des Prairies.
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“Cops approached him and asked for his name, he didn’t want to give it, they started throwing hands,” he said via Twitter.
No other context was provided.
Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafrenière spoke to Global News to explain what happened.
“Two officers responded to a call that had nothing to do with the people arrested,” he said Friday.
“The suspect was chasing them, yelling at them, giving them a hard time.
“They told him numerous times to stop. The third time, they asked him to identify himself . . . he refused . . . that’s the start of the problem.”
Lafrenière also commented on the diffulties faced by police with the advent of social media.
“Honestly, they’ve been so patient with this event, they’ve had a hard time to figure out why there are so many questions and why there’s a story with this.”
Here’s a look at the exchange between Zeeta Maharaj and @SkiMaskGhost on Twitter.
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