Canadian Forces’ member out for run ‘mocked,’ alleges racial profiling by police

globalnews.ca:

Canadian Armed Forces is accusing police officers in Quebec of racially profiling and harassing him while he was out on a run.Capt. Pierre Emanuel Joseph, a 37-year-old Black man, held a press conference Wednesday alongside members of The Red Coalition, a Canadian anti-police profiling and systemic racism lobbying organization.

They detailed what they called the “egregious treatment” he was subjected to back in the fall of 2021 when police stopped him while he was out for a long-distance run.“The treatment received from the Laval Police by Captain Joseph reveals a serious problem with a police culture that sees any Black person as a potential criminal and a liar,” Red Coalition director Alain Babineau said in a statement.Capt. Joseph detailed his account of the events to Global News on Wednesday, saying he was out in the afternoon in question and was stopped by officers while on the road next to the sidewalk.

He was on a residential street just a few houses down from where he lived when police pulled up to him, he said.During the stop, one of the officers allegedly held up his phone screen showing him a bylaw stating he was technically jaywalking because he was running on the road, not the sidewalk.“They told me they were giving me a ticket, they asked for my ID and I told them I didn’t have it on me. I told them I was in the military, which they mocked,” he alleged.Joseph then said the two officers circled him and began telling him they knew who he was, that they had seen him driving around in an Audi and had been giving police the finger.

The 37-year-old went on to recall that police wouldn’t let him speak.“When I tried, they would interrupt me and continue speaking. I was trying to tell them that I have never driven