Dashcam Footage Shows Police Chokehold on Athabasca Chipewyan Chief in Alberta Casino Parking Lot
Posted on: June 12, 2020, 10:50h.
Last updated on: June 12, 2020, 11:28h.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he is “deeply alarmed” by images of the violent arrest of an indigenous tribal leader outside the Boomtown Casino in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
His words came as Canadians joined worldwide anti-racism protests last weekend, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was punched in the head and placed in a chokehold by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers during his detention last March for an expired vehicle registration.
Adam was accosted in the Boomtown parking lot at 2 a.m. on March 10 as he adjusted a child seat in the back of his vehicle. Boomtown is a commercial casino, and while there are tribal casinos in Alberta, the Athabasca Chipewyan do not own one.
Police Brutality Claim
According to court filings, Adam alleges he is the victim of racial harassment and police brutality as he seeks to have charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer stayed.
He has provided the court with photographs of his bruised and bloodied face. On Thursday, dashcam footage from the police car was added to the list of exhibits and circulated widely in the media.
The 12-minute video first shows a belligerent Adam swearing at police, accusing them of harassment. At one point, he removes his jacket as if to start a fight. He claims he was angry because of persistent harassment from RCMP towards himself and other tribal members.
Around seven minutes into the video, a second police car’s sirens can be heard as backup arrives. Shortly after, an officer is seen racing at Adam from off-camera, knocking him to the ground in what the tribal official described in court documents as a “clothesline.”
‘False Arrest’
In an affidavit filed to the court, the arresting officer Simon Seguin admitted he charged at Adam “with the intention of bringing him to the ground.”
“I struck the male as he tried to come up,” Seguin wrote. “He turned on his right side. I struck him using my right hand on his right side of the face. I wrapped my hand [left arm]?around?his jaw and started squeezing. I then wound up placing my left knee on the back of the male’s head and ‘cranked’?the male’s?left arm up.”
On reviewing the dashcam footage, the RCMP determined that the force used was not excessive and that officers’ actions had been appropriate.
We reject that totally,” Adam’s lawyer Brian Beresh told reporters Thursday. “We will let the public look at the video and make a determination.”
“This was a false arrest; there was no basis for it, and it was excessive force used,” he added.
Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team has opened an investigation into the incident.
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Last Comments ( 5 )
The Constitution protects speech, profane, belligerent and otherwise. His speech endangered no body's life, much less armed cops.
If you watch the entire 12 minute video, you will see a chief that is abusive, belligerent, 'f' bombing every second word and trying to incite a fight with a policeman who is trying to handle this situation calmly. Plates were expired, wife's driver's license was expired. These same people were stopped two months ago to get them updated and here they are again - thinking they are above the law. I applaud law enforcement. The chief should step down from his $500,000 a year salary as he was an embarrassment. Be them black, white, gay, have buck teeth, transgender - they all would have been treated the same way.
If this kind of behaviour by the police is deemed appropriate by the police leadership then they all should be fired.
An extremely unfortunate event. I watched the total 12 minute video after listening to our Prime Minister’s 3 minute CBC video last night. I do not know why the RCMP initially pulled up behind the truck. Chief Adam twice approached the police in the car. Chief Adam went into and out of the truck 4 times and challenged the officer to fight the last time. Then back up RCMP arrived to give assistance. I believe the RCMP actions to be appropriate in apprehending and arresting Chief Adam.
That is brutal