Head of police in Ottawa addresses Orleans man’s erroneous arrest

It’s been over a month since a man from Orleans was followed, shocked with a stun gun, and attacked by Ottawa police officers because they thought he was someone else.

Before the Ottawa Police Board Services Board meeting on Monday, Chief Eric Stubbs talked about the incident and said he felt very sorry about what happened.

Stubbs said, “It’s clear that an innocent man was arrested in a very unlucky situation. ” “Our members believed they were facing a person they thought had committed murder and was carrying a weapon and could be harmful. ” We are very sorry that this happened to Mr. “Niyondagara” could be rephrased as “Niyondagara. ”

Last week, the media talked to Kane Niyondagara, who is 27 years old. He said that in February, he was chased, Tasered, and arrested violently because he was mistaken for a wanted murder suspect.

“The police officer knocked me down and hit me on the right side of my eye and also hit me on my body,” he said in an interview with the media on March 19th.

Stubbs said, “We are really worried that we arrested the wrong person and we need to talk about it. ”

In the past, the Ottawa Police Service said it wants to improve its relationship with Black, Indigenous, and racialized groups. But Robin Browne from the advocacy group 613/819 Black Hub says that’s not good enough.

“He said the Ottawa police need to make a plan to stop using too much force on brown and Middle Eastern people. ”

Information from the Ottawa Police Service shows that Black and Middle Eastern people were involved in more incidents where police used force compared to the rest of the population.

In 2022, police used force on 284 people. Black people made up 25 percent of those incidents, even though they only make up 8 percent of Ottawa’s population.

Stubbs said, “We tried to contact him last week and now we are working with his lawyers. ” “Burundi community, we need to work on building a good relationship and more trust within our community. ”

Niyondagara is still waiting for the police to apologize and respond to his complaint he made in March. The media found out that he now has a lawyer who is talking to the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service.

Lawyer Anthony LC Mineault told the media in an email that it is troubling that someone in the public made a false report to the Ottawa Police. This suggests there is widespread racial bias against visible minorities. “This person lied and said that someone wanted for murder was showing themselves in public without a mask. This should have been checked before acting on it. “