VIDEO: CAUTION - this film clip contains images that some may find difficult to watch
A Lac La Biche family has a lot of questions, and many in the community and beyond are sharing similar concerns after seeing video footage of an RCMP officer arresting a man on Oct. 1.
In video clips shared through social media and to the Lac La Biche POST newsroom, a man can be seen standing beside an RCMP vehicle with his arms outstretched towards the top of the vehicle when an officer grabs him from behind and spins him to the ground.
"I just want to know why that much force was used on my son? His hands were up. He wasn't fighting," Christine Cardinal Boucher told Lakeland This Week, the day after her 44-year-old son Dennis was arrested by Lac La Biche RCMP.
At least three videos
She says her son, who is known to police, had been drinking and was intoxicated when he tried to get into the family home on 99 Avenue at around 2 a.m. She said he was probably having trouble with the punch-code door lock and had likely disturbed neighbours who then called police.
A 30-second clip of video taken from Cardinal-Boucher's home security camera shows a police officer approaching the front door where a man can be seen standing in the doorway. As the officer is putting on gloves, the man exits the doorway and walks with the officer toward a police vehicle parked in the street. The officer and the man stand in front of the police vehicle before the video ends. The short clip does not show any further interaction between the officer and the person. The video has a time stamp of Oct. 1 at 2:17 a.m.
A second video, also from the home's security camera shows what looks to be a police officer firing a taser at another man on the front lawn of a home near a parked RCMP SUV. That video has a time stamp of 2:18 a.m.
A third video taken without a time stamp by a witness to the arrest from across the street, shows a man and a police officer standing near each other on the sidewalk in front of a house. The man turns from the officer and walks toward a parked police SUV. The man first reaches for the front passenger door, but then moves further along the vehicle and puts both of his arms near the roof of the vehicle. The police officer can be seen following the man before grabbing him from behind and throwing him to the ground.
The 22-second video clip has no direct audio from the exchange except for comments from the person filming.
In all videos, the man leaving the house, the man being hit with what appears to be a taser, and the man being thrown to the street, all are wearing light jeans, a dark jacket and a dark baseball cap. In all three videos, the location also appears to be the same.
Still images taken by other witnesses that have been posted to social media and send to the Lac La Biche POST newsroom show an ambulance arriving at the same location and the arrival of a second RCMP vehicle.
Is he breathing?
Cardinal-Boucher said she wasn't at home when the arrest was taking place, but returned to find her son lying in the middle of the road being held by police while he was being treated by ambulance crews. She said it looked as if her son had been knocked out, but she wasn't allowed to get near him.
"They chased me away from there, they wanted me to give them space. You see your son laying there and you want to know if he's breathing or alive, and they wouldn't let me," she said, explaining that once he was awake, police took him to the local detachment where he was charged with assaulting a peace officer. He was later released and is awaiting a December court appearance on the charges.
Cardinal-Boucher said when she saw her son, his face had significant injuries.
"He's got a big cut over his eyebrow, bruises around his mouth, a fat lip and his black eye is showing up now," she said. "There was so much blood. You could still see the blood in the street the next day."
Cardinal-Boucher has taken photos of the injuries and collected videos of the arrest. She is considering legal action.
She has also been to the Lac La Biche RCMP detachment to ask how she can file a formal complaint about the arrest. She said she has been given steps on how to file an official complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP.
The video of the arrest has generated many comments on social media platforms since it was first released. Other reactions have included a small demonstration outside the Lac La Biche RCMP detachment.
Lac La Biche RCMP officials and Alberta RCMP were contacted for comment about the incident late Wednesday afternoon, but had not responded by the editorial deadline.
Updates to this story will be available at www.lakelandtoday.ca as they become available.
