Police officers guilty of racial profiling in Montreal North

The Montreal police service and two of its officers have been found guilty of racial profiling by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunaland must pay the victim $14,000 in damages.

DavidsMensah, who is originally from Ghana,was working as a delivery man for a restaurant when he was pulled over by police in Montreal North on June 4, 2011, for having a burnt-out tail light.

He toldCBCNews thatpolice repeatedly asked him if he had drugs on him and forcefully arrested him without telling him why. Hewas searched twice during his arrest.

"I didn't even get the chance to turn around, and they grabbed my arm, and they smacked my head against my car," Mensah said.

According to the tribunal judge, Mario Gervais, the second search was a violation of Mensah's rights.

He also pointed to the fact that Mensah was a youngblack manliving in Montreal North.

"The questions asked [by the officer] added fueltothe social context of an already highly tense relationship between police and the multi-ethnic community," Gervais wrote in his decision.

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Gervais also criticized the officers for repeatedly asking Mensah if he had drugs on him.

"Both officers could only have known that this question was unjustified, illegitimate, inappropriate and that it would necessarily have a strong impact on the complainant," he wrote.

Gervaisordered the SPVMandofficers Martin Robidoux and Jean-Michel Fournierto pay Mensah$14,000 in damages.

'They took my pride away'

At the time of his arrest, Mensah was studying police technology at Algonquin College in Ottawa.

He saidfollowing his arrest, he gave up on his dreams of becoming a police officer.

"They took my pride away," Mensah said in his testimony.

"It took me five years to be where I want tobe. And it took them a couple of seconds to take it away from me."

Mensahsaidthat following his arrest, he stayed indoors, keeping lights off and the blinds down. He said he could not sleep or eat.

"When I went home that night, I went straight to the basement, and I was crying like a little baby," he told CBC.

He continued his studies for almost a year before deciding to quit because he was so disturbed by the arrest.

Mensah saidhe is pleased with the tribunal'sdecision.

"It's not about the money. It'sjust for them to recognize what they did to me," he said.

SPVManalyzing judgment

Contacted by CBC, the SPVMsaidit is currently reading over Gervais's judgment and willnot comment on it.

"The force will contact the City of Montreal's legal department before deciding what to do next," SPVM communication officer Sandrine Lapointewrote in an email.

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The SPVM has been criticized in the past for inadequately dealing with racial profiling.

A report into racial profilingcommissioned by the servicereleased in Novemberfound the servicefailed to achieve many of the objectives itset for itself in a plan to address the issue five years ago.

The report also found that Montreal policedon't have a centralized record of the number of racial profiling complaints.

That was something that was recommended in the 2013 coroner's report looking intothe death of Fredy Villanueva in 2008.