Witnesses to assaults that led to mistaken handcuffing of retired judge call for better police training

A pair of Vancouver women who witnessed some of the random assaults that led up to police mistakenly detaining and handcuffing a retired Black judge last week are calling for officers to receive better training.

Fatima Jaffer was walking along the seawall with her friend Maija Wiik on Friday morning when a stranger tried to attack her.

"The gibberish just started, he got angry — enraged — and his hands were flailing about, and then he went to swipe at me," Jaffer told CBC News.

Jaffer ducked out of the way and fell into Wiik. They were both shaken but otherwise unharmed.

Jaffer also filmed the man as he targeted another woman.

"He kept jumping, lunging at her and she kept moving away," she said.

Vancouver police say they received several reports on Friday morning about the man, describing him as dark-skinned, bald and between the ages of 40 and 50.

Those reports led a group of officers to handcuff and detain 81-year-old Selwyn Romilly, the first Black justice appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court, as he was out for a stroll. Romilly has described the situation as "most embarrassing," and raised the possibility he was targeted for "walking while Black."

Jaffer said that following her encounter with the suspect, she was concerned about the possibility of racial profiling as well.

They were with a Black friend — also a man in his 80s — who wanted to follow the suspect to make sure he didn't hurt anyone, she said. Jaffer and Wiik urged him not to.

"We were afraid that if the police came, he would be profiled," Jaffer said. "The irony is they went after another Black man after all."

Vancouver police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said Romilly was lawfully detained and insisted he matched the description of the suspect, despite the 30-year age gap.

"Retired Justice Romilly was not racially profiled and this was not an arbitrary stop," Addison wrote in an email.

He pointed out that officers apologized for the mistaken detention.

The correct suspect was arrested nearby and taken to jail for breach of the peace, but released later the same day, according to Addison. He has not been charged — police say they were unable to gather formal statements from witnesses and victims.

Jaffer and Wiik disagree with Addison's assertion that Romilly was not racially profiled.

"I'm very aware of being white and having many privileges and thinking, 'I don't know if I would have been treated like that,' " Wiik said.

Jaffer believes further education of the police force is needed to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

"It made me despair that the cops will ever get it," she said. "Why can't the cops be a little more sensitive about what they are going to do?"