Posted on 01/04/2014 5:56:06 AM PST by rickmichaels
MONTREAL – A Montreal police spokesman has described as “unacceptable” and “inexplicable” an officer’s comment he would tie a homeless man to a pole for an hour in the freezing cold if his behaviour didn’t improve.
The policeman’s remarks were captured on video by a passer-by and posted on YouTube.
Footage shows the officer speaking to a man dressed only in a short-sleeved T-shirt and jean shorts that reached his calves.
The officer can be seen telling the man that if another citizen complained to police about him he would “tie him to a pole for an hour.”
The comments were made on Thursday afternoon as Montrealers, like Canadians in many parts of the country, were coping with bone-chilling temperatures.
Police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said Friday that disciplinary measures against the officer could range from a verbal warning to a suspension.
“It really isn’t what we expect of our officers,” Lafreniere said in an interview. “It is unacceptable and, especially, inexplicable.”
Police were called to the scene after callers to 911 complained that the man was being aggressive as he panhandled outside a subway station.
Lafreniere said the man refused the officer’s requests that he get into a police cruiser or go to a shelter for the homeless.
“I can’t tell you right now whether his (the officer’s) intention was to do what he threatened to do,” Lafreniere said. “But the end result is very sad.”
Other police officers eventually found the man and finally persuaded him to go to hospital.
Lafreniere said the Montreal force has had two volunteers on each shift all this week to go out to help the homeless.
While authorities were scheduled to speak to the officer later in the day, there was no word as of early Friday evening as to whether the meeting had taken place.
Mayor Denis Coderre said he spoke to Montreal police Chief Marc Parent as soon as he heard about the incident on social media.
“There is nothing that excuses that kind of remark,” Coderre said at a ceremony at the Port of Montreal.
“What was said and done was unacceptable and it can’t happen again.”
The mayor cautioned, however, that mental-health issues can be a complicating factor in such encounters.
Coderre reiterated his commitment to helping the homeless with a long-term strategy.
“When was the last time you met a homeless person, looked him in the eye and asked him his name?” he said. “It’s a question of dignity, as well.”
Needs to be removed from duty before he becomes a liability. No telling what he does behind closed doors.
That is sad, all the way.
We call this, “Making Criminal Terrorist Threats” a FELONY EVERYWHERE.
I’d like to hear the other side of this story. The guy was so beligerent the police were called, twice. He would NOT go to a homeless shelter and get out of the freezing weather. Etc. The threat is hyperbole, and the policeman did not do it.
I'd like to hear this too.
He was standing outside the station aggressively panhandling and bothering people enough to complain to the police. But it would be cruel to make him stand outside for an hour in the cold.
eh, tie the cop to a pole for an hour so he at least understands the punishment he was about to attempt, or wanted to attempt.
The police by and large are no longer our friends. I sat on the plane 2 weeks ago flying to Halifax, and sat beside a retired RCMP member. He’d been in the force for 30 years. We talked about firearms among other things. I came to one conclusion. I have seen the enemy, and they are among us.
If the cop had “forcibly” taken him to a shelter or the hospital, some “advocate” would have been screaming for his suspension for unlawful arrest.
Exactly. One doesn’t have too look far to see that how some cops behave can be pretty doggone despicable at times…but this should have far less to do with what he said and more about what he did. For about 8 years, I was part of a community program called ‘Out-of-the-Cold’ which facilitated temporary shelters for homeless people from November to April…. 7 churches participated in the program on an alternating basis with a staff of volunteers and each night, the basement or gym of one of the churches was opened up and about 100 to 125 homeless showed up for a hot meal and a mattress/blanket and they even got a breakfast the next morning. As the one who checked the homeless in at the front door and ran security for the place, it was quite an experience for me to observe the homeless and to try to understand them. Some of them truly were very ordinary folks who were just ‘down on their luck’ and these folks couldn’t have expressed more gratitude for what was done for them. However, there was at least 10% who really should have been institutionalized… they were schizophrenic and many were just outright mental cases who had not been taking their meds. Then of course was the bunch who arrived as high as a kit on drugs. On FR here, there have been numerous discussions about policies derived from court decisions which make it far more difficult to confine such people…it seems that they have viewed mental issue more as a disability than as a potential dangerous individual. The fellow in the Montreal case looks about exactly the same as numerous individuals who crossed my check-in desk and there is no question that such individuals require ‘special handling’. Even if there wasn’t immediate danger, the cop should have called for assistance…..not from another cop but from a mental health specialist who had better persuasive powers than he did.
Red herring .. fresh, not frozen.
A year ago October but you’re right - totally stupid question. Similar to the pro-abortion crowd who ask how many special needs children have I adopted (one). These elites who think that they are so morally superior.
We call this, “Making Criminal Terrorist Threats” a FELONY EVERYWHERE.
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And add to it that he had the means and temperment to carry out the threat ... this was a death threat based on the weather and clothing involved.
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