Alberta police watchdog says excessive force was not used in arrest of native chief

Alberta’s police watchdog has concluded its investigation into the forcible arrest of a native chief that left him bloodied and bruised outside a Fort McMurray casino in March 2020, finding there was no wrongdoing on the part of the RCMP and no indication , that there was a racist. element in what happened.

“After a thorough, independent and objective investigation into the conduct of the subject officers, it is my opinion that they were lawfully positioned and acted properly in the performance of their duties,” Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) Executive Director Michael Ewenson wrote in his report published Thursday.

“There is no evidence to support any belief that they engaged in any illegal or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to a criminal act,” he said.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam said he could not comment on ASIRT’s findings because of “an agreement between me and the RCMP.” Corporal Troy Savinkoff, an RCMP spokesman, confirmed there was a settled civil lawsuit between Mr. Adam and the RCMP, but said he could not provide any details.

Edmonton defense lawyer Brian Beresh, who defended Mr. Adam, charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, said he was disappointed with ASIRT’s findings. He said the ASIRT’s conclusion that the RCMP acted properly is “completely inconsistent” with the fact that the charges against Mr. Adam quickly became apostate.

“I’m disappointed by what appears to be a very shallow analysis of a case where there is hard evidence, in videos, of excessive police force, and I’m disappointed in how the issue of race was handled,” Mr. Beresh said. “It looks like the writers asked the police if they were racist and they said no and they accepted it.”

The ASIRT report states that Mr. Adam and his wife “refused to co-operate with ASIRT’s investigation, as is their right.”

The long-running argument began when Mr. Adam was leaving Boomtown Casino with his wife early on the morning of March 10, 2020, and an officer noticed that the vehicle’s registration had expired.

Mr. Adam spoke publicly about the incident in June 2020, saying he was beaten by police and his wife, Freda Courtoreille, subjected to racist police violence.

“We need an overhaul of our justice system in terms of how it treats minority people. There is systematic racism,” he told The Globe and Mail at the time. “Is that normal for any officer who carries a badge and a sidearm . .. to shoot or beat a person from another minority and say: ‘We will deal with them this way. He is just a native person who is worthless. A drunk.’ “

The RCMP initially defended the officers’ actions, saying that Mr. Adam had resisted arrest and members “were required to use force” to take him into custody. But a gruesome photo of his bloodied face and videos of the incident released by both Mr. Adam and the RCMP led to widespread questioning and condemnation of the police response from indigenous leaders and politicians alike.

“We are deeply disturbed by the graphic image and videos of the use of force,” then-public safety minister Bill Blair said at the time. “People across the country have serious questions about this incident and they deserve adequate answers.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time that the video was “shocking” and called for an independent investigation. “I think everyone who has seen this video has serious questions about what exactly happened, about how it happened this way and about the use of force that we saw.”

The incident occurred at a time of intense scrutiny of systemic racism in policing in the wake of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in the United States.

The first officer is described in the ASIRT report as being “East Indian” with about four months of police experience with the RCMP.

“Last I checked, I’m Native American. My skin color is brown, as if race didn’t play a role in me making that traffic stop…,” the officer is quoted as saying. “I don’t pull people over or anything, just because I don’t like the color of their skin. No.”

The second officer said he made a quick decision to use force based on what he saw as a suspect “exhibiting assaultive behavior” and actively resisting arrest.

“I didn’t know the male was Aboriginal before and during the procedure. During the time I had to make a decision, the person’s ethnicity, language, socioeconomic background, or religion was not considered or even digested,” the officer wrote. “No matter what, it would never influence a decision.”

The report said that video taken in the police car after Mr. Adams’ arrest recorded him making death threats and racist comments against both officers, including telling the first officer to go back to his own country and blaming him for COVID.

The ASIRT report notes that Mr. Adam “is Indigenous and a recognized leader in his community” who “believed he was treated differently by the officers because of his race.”

“He is obviously entitled to his personal beliefs, but there is nothing in the available evidence that documents any overt language or conduct by the officers that suggests racist treatment,” the report reads.