Two Black men who tried to report a crime to Edmonton police \u2014 but instead ended up pepper sprayed, handcuffed and told they were lucky they hadn\u2019t been shot \u2014 were victims of racial discrimination, a tribunal has found.<\/p>\n
Late last month, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal issued a decision in the case of Yousef John and Caesar Judianga, who along with roommate Harry Lado\u00a0tried to detain a woman they say threw a rock through the window of Lado\u2019s wife\u2019s car early May 5, 2017.<\/p>\n
The three men \u2014 who are South Sudanese \u2014 went to confront the woman, with Lado, a bouncer, attempting a citizen\u2019s arrest. When police arrived, however, one of the officers, Const. Jordan Steele, sprayed all three men with pepper spray, then ordered them to the ground, where they were handcuffed.<\/p>\n
The men say they were given only cursory medical attention while the woman, who is white, gave a statement and received personal assistance from another officer, who later gave her a ride to a friend\u2019s house. That officer, Const. Celia Frattin, also told the men they were lucky they had been pepper sprayed because they \u201ccould have been shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police did not take a statement about the damage to Lado\u2019s wife\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complainants in this case were angry and upset,\u201d tribunal member Erika Ringseis wrote in the Aug. 29 decision. \u201cThey had witnessed property damage and chased the accused they knew had thrown a rock through the car window. They had called the police, expecting the police to arrive and bring justice to them, but were instead perceived as the perpetrators of crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complainants experienced an adverse impact, they were treated as something less, in part because of the colour of their skin,\u201d Ringseis concluded.<\/p>\n
In a statement, an EPS spokesperson said the service is applying for a judicial review of the tribunal decision but declined to\u00a0comment further.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Police Association, the officers\u2019 union, also declined to comment.<\/p>\n
John and Judianga filed complaints against the Edmonton Police Service, as well as Steele and Frattin individually.<\/p>\n
Ringseis dismissed the latter complaints after\u00a0concluding Steele and Frattin were operating in their capacity as police officers. She found no evidence either deliberately mistreated the men because of their race.<\/p>\n
Ringseis\u2019s finding that the men were discriminated against hinged on the more subtle concept of \u201cimplicit\u201d bias \u00a0\u2014\u00a0which the tribunal defined as\u00a0prejudices an individual holds without realizing \u201cas they are unconsciously formed from information we are exposed to in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a University of Toronto\u00a0criminologist called to testify by the\u00a0complainants, said people in North America are more likely to associate\u00a0Black men with criminality, danger and violence than white men.<\/p>\n
Eric Hehman, a McGill University psychology professor who studies intergroup prejudice, testified that in stressful, ambiguous situations like the one the officers encountered, white police officers \u201cwill be more likely to interpret the situation according to stereotypes, such as Black males being aggressive and \u2018bad,’\u201d the tribunal decision summarized.<\/p>\n