Thirty-nine-year-old Pradel Content wants justice.
According to Content, on May 14, he was driving to a gas station in Laval, when he noticed a police vehicle made a U-turn on Highway 15 to tail his car.
Content said he pulled into a gas station, parked his car, got out and started recording police on his cellphone, as officers came towards him.
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“The car made another U-turn, came back around in the gas station and then a male officer comes out and snatches my phone and then pushes me,” Content said.
“I was like woah, my god what did I do? Then he’s telling me I’m going to jail for videotaping him.”
Content called the treatment aggressive and said the officers disregarded his physical disability. He was holding a cane at the time of the alleged incident.
Police gave content a $127 ticket for using his phone while driving, a charge he completely refutes.
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What’s more, Content said police erased the video he took of the incident from his cell phone.
A fact he backed up by presenting a copy of the police report to Global News.
“He deleted it,” How can I feel safe if I make a video and you delete it?”
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Fo Niemi, executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), said erasing that footage is illegal.
“Police should know full well that it’s illegal to erase a citizen’s private recording without their consent,” he said.
“There have been two court decisions this year, one of which involved a Laval police officer, over the same conduct.”
Niemi said what happened to Content is a clear case of ‘driving while black’ and added it happens more than we think.
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“We hear a lot, particularly young black men being stopped and checked in Laval, but we don’t see complaints going through the system,” Niemi said. “So we hope this case will encourage people to do so.”
With CRARR’s help, Content filed complaints with the Quebec Human Rights Commission for racial profiling and discrimination based on race intersecting with disability and with the Police Ethics Commissioner for several violations.
“Let me live,” Content said. “That’s all I ask, let me live. I want to walk down the street like a normal human being.”
A spokesperson for the Laval Police told Global News they do not comment on complaints. However, racial profiling is not tolerated in the force.
“We will fully collaborate in the ethics investigation and await the results,” said Martine Caza-Lenghan, head of communications with the Laval Police.
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