CBC News
A man from the Toronto area says he feared for his life when police officers in Laval, Que., wrestled him to the ground, pepper-sprayed him, used a stun gun on him and placed a spit mask over his face.
WARNING: This story contains graphic images, video of a police arrest and injuries
‘I can’t breathe’: Ontario man recounts violent arrest by Laval, Que., police caught on videoGulaid Mahdi Omar is filing a complaint and says he feared for his life when police officers in Laval, Que., wrestled him to the ground, pepper-sprayed him, used a stun gun on him and placed a spit mask over his face the night of Sept. 1.
A man from the Toronto area says he feared for his life when police officers in Laval, Que., wrestled him to the ground, pepper-sprayed him, used a stun gun on him and placed a spit mask over his face.
Gulaid Mahdi Omar, 31, said the incident left him concussed and shaken, but he says he did nothing wrong. No charges have been laid against him. After the incident, the police gave him two tickets for failing to provide identification, his driver’s license and insurance to an officer.
Omar said he was in the Montreal area celebrating getting a new job with his family on Sept. 1, when, after parking a rental car near a lounge in Laval, two police officers approached him and told him to get back in the car.
Omar said he was confused, and said he didn’t know why the officers approached him, or if they were arresting him. He said there was also a language barrier: the officers were speaking French, which he doesn’t speak.
“I asked them ‘what am I being detained for?'” he said in an interview. But the officers didn’t say, and instead, one of them pushed him, Omar recalled, prompting him to say, “Don’t touch me, ‘I know my rights.'”
Then, he said, the officers hauled him to the ground and began punching him and kneeling on him.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
Gulaid Omar was taken to hospital after being stopped by Laval police the night of Sept. 1, where he was diagnosed with a concussion and treated for scrapes and other injuries. (The Red Coalition)
Videos shot by bystanders and shared on social media show two police officers detaining Omar on the ground and hitting him repeatedly in the lower body and crotch.
In the first four-minute video, officers yell at bystanders to stay back as the person recording says that Omar, who is contorted on the ground, is not resisting. The videos begin after the initial arrest and do not show the moments leading up to it.
At one point, one of the officers yells at Omar to give him his hand, even while each officer is gripping one of his wrists.
Omar says “take my hand, here” before he’s slammed onto his stomach. At that point, he can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe.”
His friends, who recorded the video from inside the vehicle, yell at officers that Omar cannot breathe, with one of the officers replying, “[If] he talks, he can [breathe].”
WARNING: This video contains graphic footage of a police arrest:
Witness videos show violent arrest by Laval police Graphic video shot by bystanders and shared on social media shows two police officers roughly detaining Gulaid Mahdi Omar on the ground and hitting him repeatedly in the lower body. The videos begin after the initial arrest and do not show the moments leading up to it.
In a second four-minute video shot by bystanders on the sidewalk, two more officers can be seen pulling up and hopping out of a police cruiser, one immediately pulling out a stun gun and rushing to Omar while the other brings one of the men recording in the vehicle to the ground.
Omar said when the officers called in backup, they pepper-sprayed him and placed a spit mask over his face.
The whole incident lasted approximately 15 to 20 minutes, he said. He was not arrested, but the officers called an ambulance and he was transported to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a concussion and gave him painkillers for various scrapes and injuries sustained while the officers were trying to handcuff him.
Ethics complaint filed
In a statement to CBC News, Laval police said a pair of police officers intercepted a running vehicle with three occupants inside near a licensed establishment in the Pont-Viau neighbourhood on the night of Sept. 1.
“Given the late hour and the vehicle’s location, the officers intercepted it to check the driver’s ability to operate the vehicle,” the statement reads.
Police said an individual refused to co-operate with the police and “resisted, forcing them to use a continuum of force.”
The service said an analysis into the video of the altercation, and a statement published by the anti-racism advocacy group Red Coalition, is underway.
“We want to remind the public that the Laval police service does not tolerate any form of discrimination,” the service said.
Omar said he passed a breathalyzer test and said he thinks the officers racially profiled him.
Joel DeBellefeuille, executive director and founder of the Red Coalition, said the footage was “deeply disturbing.”
The Red Coalition published the videos to the social media platform X on Monday. DeBellefeuille said they drew parallels to the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“This is the most shocking and upsetting instances of racial profiling I have ever seen. Mr. [Omar] was clearly in compliance, and yet officers continued to use excessive force.”
The Red Coalition has filed a police ethics complaint on Omar’s behalf.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabrina Jonas is a digital reporter with CBC Montreal. She was previously based at CBC Toronto after graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism. Sabrina has a particular interest in social justice issues and human interest stories. Drop her an email at sabrina.jonas@cbc.ca
With files from Melissa François
