Video of muscular arrest in Edmonton leads to investigation
Parking security camera video shows an Edmonton police officer punching an 18-year-old driver in the head.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) is investigating the arrest of an 18-year-old man, after video of his arrest shows one of the officers present gave him eight punches to the head.
The arrest which took place on February 22 in an underground parking lot was recorded by the surveillance cameras at the scene.
The video, posted on social media, shows the young driver parking his white car in one of the spaces. A police car arrives shortly after and parks behind him.
The young man walks towards the police car from which one of the two officers gets out. The young driver and the policeman then walk towards the white sedan.
They face each other, and although the video has no sound, the images show that the tension is mounting each other, as they point fingers at each other while chatting.
Warning : the images in the video below may shock some people.
The arrest of an 18-year-old boy by two police officers using violence took place on February 22 in Edmonton.
After a few minutes of discussion, the young man walks towards the exit door of the parking lot. The policeman takes a few running steps to catch up with him, grabs him by the collar of his coat and punches him in the head.
The young driver loses his temper. balance on the third punch, on the fourth he is on the ground, but the policeman continues to hit him. The 18-year-old will receive a total of eight punches to the head.
The second officer, who had remained in the background for most of the intervention, came to the aid of his colleague to handcuff the young man, and the two took him to their vehicle.
< p class="e-p">According to Edmonton Police Services, officers followed the young man into the parking lot after they saw him driving recklessly through a residential area.
The Director of Police Services was made aware of the situation as the video was circulating on social media within days of the arrest. He contacted ASIRT, which opened an investigation.
Kevin Walby, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, believes this is a case of excessive force.
When I see [the unfolding of the arrest] frame by frame or sequence by sequence, I think it's absolutely excessive. But I wouldn't call it exceptional, he says, adding that this type of force is used more often than the public realizes.
He also notes that the young man parks quietly, which does not match the description given by the Edmonton police.
The 18-year-old man was released on a promise to appear.
According to the Edmonton Police Service, the attendance of the officers involved is under review.
With information from Paige Parsons
Victim of mistaken identity by Vancouver police calls for investigation
