Black youth were 'resisting arrest,' says Quebec City police chief

Quebec City Police Chief Denis Turcotte says the two young Black people who were recently filmed being violently detained by police were "resisting arrest" and investigations into how police handled the situation are still ongoing.

"There were a total of six arrests that night," said Turcotte, "five for causing disorder, one for interfering with police work. Of those six arrests, only two people resisted. That's what we see in the videos."

Early on Saturday, Nov. 27, Service de police de la ville de Québec (SPVQ) officers were filmed striking and kicking snow in the face of 18-year-old Pacifique Niyokwizara while he was being restrained on the ground outside the Dagobert night club.

At around the same time, in a related incident, police were recorded dragging a young Black woman through the snow and at one point an officer can be seen grabbing her by her hair.

Turcotte says police officers regularly have to use force to get people under control when they're resisting arrest. He says the goal of the internal investigation is to determine the circumstances and events that led up to the use of force that was caught on camera.

He says five officers were suspended with pay because they were closely involved in what happened and he wanted to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

"The police ethics commissioner was called upon to investigate these events, so we're co-ordinating with him," said Turcotte. The commissioner's investigation will take precedence, the chief said.

Since those two videos were widely shared online, two other people have come forward alleging they were mistreated by Quebec City police.

On Tuesday, Jean-Philippe St-Laurent shared cell phone footage of SPVQ officers tackling him to the ground inside a restaurant and landing several blows to his ribs.

St-Laurent says his encounter with police happened just a few hours before the interventions with the two young Black people and left him in hospital overnight.

The SPVQ has launched separate investigations and five police officers were suspended with pay. 

Turcotte says at least one of those officers was involved in all three interventions that happened overnight from Nov. 26 to Nov. 27 and he said he's studying whether he needs to review the mandate of the SPVQ's GRIPP squad — a task force created in 2004 to intervene in bars and night clubs.

Turcotte was also asked about another incident earlier this fall. A video is circulating where a member of the GRIPP squad swears at a man as he threatens to pepper spray him. It too is under investigation. 

On Thursday, another violent police intervention involving the GRIPP squad came to light. Video from Oct. 17 at the District Saint-Joseph restaurant and bar shows three officers leading a man toward an exit into a hallway, where one of the officers violently shoves him into a wall.