Victim of mistaken arrest blames racial profiling for false report to police
Arthur White-Crummey | CBC News | Posted: March 26, 2024 9:26 PM | Last Updated: March 26
Officers seeking homicide suspect punched, kicked, shocked Kane Niyondagara last month
One day after Ottawa's police chief said the force deeply regrets the mistaken arrest of a young Black man, the victim is expressing his hope that those sentiments will lead to policy changes that protect other innocent people from police violence.
Kane Niyondagara's lawyer emailed a statement to CBC on Tuesday saying his client appreciates city and police efforts "to communicate and address his concerns related to his false arrest."
But the statement sharply criticized the caller whose report led officers to confront Niyondagara on Feb. 16 in Orléans, and faulted police for "charging at him with weapons drawn" without bothering to confirm his identity.
"Mr. Niyondagara is deeply disturbed that he was the victim of a false report made carelessly or maliciously by a member of the public," said the statement, conveyed through personal injury lawyer Anthony Mineault.
"He is saddened by the continued systemic bias against visible minorities."
Police said the caller reported a wanted homicide suspect. After Niyondagara ran, they chased him and shocked him with a stun gun before pinning him to the ground, kicking him and striking him in the face.
"The person who made this false report to the police based on racial profiling must bear the responsibility for it," the statement said.
Police sought homicide suspect
Police have revealed that they were seeking a man wanted in connection with a July 29 homicide in Little Italy. A suspect in that case, Gibriil Bakal, remains at large. He is also Black.
Chief Eric Stubbs said on Monday that the mistaken belief that officers were dealing with a suspect in a fatal shooting heightened the perceived level of risk.
"In my experience, when you're about to arrest somebody that you think may have committed a homicide, often they can be very volatile," Stubbs said prior to a police services board meeting.
"They are obviously capable of violence, and they may have nothing to lose because they think they're going to jail for a long time because of a potential homicide they committed."
According to his statement on Tuesday, Niyondagara understands "the inherent level of danger and stress" that police officers confront.
"However, he truly hopes this event will trigger changes to the manner police services approach allegedly wanted individuals as he remains disturbed that the false report made against him was not validated prior to his arrest," it said.
Hope for dialogue
Niyondagara said proper steps to confirm his identity would have avoided the forceful arrest that followed, especially since he "bears no resemblance to the alleged wanted person that was the subject of this service call."
His statement expressed hope that dialogue with police will lead the force to "improve its policies and guidelines when responding to service calls pertaining to wanted dangerous offenders so that further cases of false identity, such as the one he was a victim, do not reoccur."
The statement did not reveal whether Niyondagara has met with Stubbs or plans to do so. On Tuesday, Stubbs said he wants to meet Niyondagara "eye to eye."
Though the chief did not issue a public apology on Monday, he isn't ruling one out if such a conversation took place.
"There's no doubt, this was a very unfortunate set of circumstances where an innocent man was arrested," Stubbs said.
"Our members thought they were confronting a man who was a homicide suspect and presumed to be armed and dangerous. We deeply regret that this occurred."
Police service board members also questioned Stubbs about the incident on Monday, and the board's chair called it an important case that members expect to be updated on.