The Public Complaints Commission is investigating after concerns of excessive force used by the Regina Police Service during an arrest on Friday morning.
A surveillance video sent to CTV News and posted to YouTube is dated stamped for Dec. 13 at 1:48 a.m. and shows Regina Police attempting to apprehend a suspect on the 800 block of Montague St.
The suspect is tackled to the ground by three RPS officers and seconds later, another officer approaches and appears to deliver three blows. The suspect is not visible in the video and it’s not known if the suspect was resisting arrest.
The video was brought to the attention of Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism, who spoke to the RPS’s Professional Standards Section about the incident.
“That’s not the way you treat people when you arrest people,” Advocate Bob Hughes said. “If someone does something wrong, you arrest them, they go to court and they’re punished. This young person was punished quite severely on the street right here behind me.”
A few minutes before the incident, another angle from the surveillance cameras show the suspect attempting to evade police by hiding in a yard on the corner of Second Ave. and Montague St.
Later in the video, about ten minutes after the suspect is taken to the ground, an ambulance arrives on the scene and takes the suspect to hospital.
There’s no word on the condition of the suspect or what charges he was arrested on.
Regina Police say officers can use force to effect an arrest, however, the force applied has to be reasonable and justified, which will need to be explained during the Public Complaints Commission investigation.
