B.C. band furious over pepper spray incident

[CBC News]

Several aboriginal parents in a town northwest of Vancouver plan to file a complaint with the RCMP after a community celebration ended in pepper spray and a confrontation with officers.
It all happened Monday night in Sechelt, B.C., after the Sechelt band's two youth teams won first prize at a soccer tournament in Vancouver.
The parents said it is a community tradition to celebrate with a grand entrance by honking horns.
But police said they had to forcibly stop a pickup truck with 10 people in the back and an officer used pepper spray only when the driver resisted arrest.

Shannon Phillips said she was carrying her baby and tried to intervene on behalf of her husband, Troy Myers, who was the driver.
"They pepper sprayed him and when I went to say, 'What are you doing?' they turned around and pepper sprayed me and Kaden — quite a few times, actually."

While home video cameras rolled, people started screaming at the officers, who responded with more pepper spray.
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Did the police go to far?


More...

 

[#juan]

No. They didn't go too far. The natives went too far in their protest and wouldn't be stopped by any other means. Pepper spray is better than bullets and these unlawful protests are getting tiresome. Nobody else can just block a highway when they feel like it.

 

[Twila]

The parents said it is a community tradition to celebrate with a grand entrance by honking horns.
But police said they had to forcibly stop a pickup truck with 10 people in the back and an officer used pepper spray only when the driver resisted arrest.

It's tradition to sit in the back of a pickup and have a horn honked continuously? A tradition? Are they claiming it's their native right?

The police most definately did NOT go too far. Why should there be 1 law for whitey and 1 law for the natives?

 

[Twila]

Wait change that. Why should there be 1 law for Non Native Canadians and 1 for the natives?

 

[Impetus]

I'm trying to understand why they had to stop the pickup truck in the first place.

Because people were riding in the back as they entered??

In the context of such an event, that can't be a huge crime or we'd have to arrest Shriners in parades all over the country...or football fans at the Superbowl.

Was it a safe way to stop the truck? I mean, pepper-spraying the driver of a moving vehicle in a crowded area is a tad careless, don't you think?

Unless there was a serious offense in play, I think the cops should have just let them pass, enjoy the moment and not make a mountain out of a molehill in the first place.

The cops may have felt (justifyably) in danger after the fact when the crowd became irate, but they should have used better judgement.

 

[Twila]

Was it a safe way to stop the truck? I mean, pepper-spraying the driver of a moving vehicle in a crowded area is a tad careless, don't you think?

from the article:

But police said they had to forcibly stop a pickup truck with 10 people in the back and an officer used pepper spray only when the driver resisted arrest.

ecause people were riding in the back as they entered??

In the context of such an event, that can't be a huge crime or we'd have to arrest Shriners in parades all over the country...or football fans at the Superbowl.

Different scenario. They weren't on a closed street going 20km an hour. They were doing the speed limit I presume while entering the city/village of Sechelt. Although even if they were only doing 20km an hour the law states that ALL passengers must wear a seatbelt. Because if some poor hick doing the speed limit were to hit the truck it wouldn't matter if they were stopped.
Vehicle was stopped. Pepper spray used after.

 

[Impetus]

from the article:

Different scenario. They weren't on a closed street going 20km an hour. They were doing the speed limit I presume while entering the city/village of Sechelt. Although even if they were only doing 20km an hour the law states that ALL passengers must wear a seatbelt. Because if some poor hick doing the speed limit were to hit the truck it wouldn't matter if they were stopped.
Vehicle was stopped. Pepper spray used after.

All that ado over seatbelt infractions is what it boils down to.
Must have been rookies...

Ignoring it isn't giving the native Canadians preferential treatment as much as making a good judgment call. Cops let things go all the time if it's too close to the end of shift...why not for an impromptu parade?

Whoopee! We made a crowd scene and headlines over some seatbelt offenses!

 

[Twila]

Except that to "let it go" in front of the rest of the town of Sechelt would tell them that as long as your native you can do as you like.

 

[Impetus]

Except that to "let it go" in front of the rest of the town of Sechelt would tell them that as long as your native you can do as you like.

No, those rednecks would more likely just keep quiet and hope they fall out of the truck, then make some comment like "crazy injuns".

The legality of riding in the back of the pickup would never occur to them.:idea:

 

[Twila]

I don't know, there's a lot going on now in BC with Native Treaties and such. If they get their way they'll own all of Vancouver. They're currently looking at getting the gov't to turn over the UBC golf course.
I fear that a evil wind blows

And in all honesty I have no idea what the population of Sechelt is like...Rednecked or city slickers...I just don't know

 

[Zzarchov]

You can ride in the back of a pickup without seatbelts (or used to be able to), but every seatbelt the vehicle came with had to be in use.

Basically, the cops got power tripping and decided to pepper spray babies. Cops know damn well how to not spray someone in the passenger seat, especially a kid. It isn't that hard, I've used pepper spray before.

I also grew up in a town where the cops pepper sprayed a 14 year old girl in front of 10 or 15 kids because she wouldn't show them her breasts (and they were drunk, while in a squad car driving).

There are bad cops as sure as there are bad people, thats why there are whole divisions of cops to watch other cops.

Those who watch the watchmen as the saying goes. Currently, the evidence points more towards dirty cops than otherwise. They pepper sprayed a baby.

 

[Twila]

The news mentioned that it was on Band Land...I'd like to change my view on what happened now that this new information has come to light...

Zzarchov, I can't find anything that states its legal to ride in the back of a pick up truck, not that means anything really. I think you're right about it being heavy handed cops in this case.

 

[sechelt old timer]

Hi there!
I'm a 40 something,white,professional female who's been a resident of Sechelt my whole life,so I may have a little more insight than some of those who've posted here
I have no idea what protest,and blocked highway another poster is referring to.....this happened on band land,and was actually an impromptu parade celebrating the winning return of the kids soccer team from an out of town tournament.It was around dinner time,so there was no noise bylaw infraction to be cited.There were kids in a moving truck,but they were going about as slow as the floats in the Canada day parade....and on a lightly travelled paved residential street,where all the residents come out to wave and cheer for their team as they pass by.
The police used to follow us when we did this in my day,lights and all-but as part of the celebration,not to stop it.It's quite possible Troy (the driver-a hard working family man who spends 100s of hours coaching these kids))didn't even realize he was supposed to pull over-until the second officer swerved around him and blocked his path-sheesh.
There's video of the whole ugly thing that shows a still cheering crowd of kids and parents gathered around while he speaks quite civilly with the police.Things don't escalate until an arrest becomes obvious,at which point some adults do chant B.S.,B.S.....something I've seen happen many other times when onlookers disagree with the R.C.M.P.,without pepper spray being deployed as a result.
He was cuffed and co-operative when sprayed at very close range by an officer who then grabbed his chin and gave his neck a quick twist(you can break or seriously injure someones neck doing this)before turning with a snarl on his face also spraying the bystanders nearby.I would love to see a frame by frame of this portion-it appears on the video that the officer is looking directly at Troys wife and 6 mo. old baby as he gives them a squirt.Seriously,that's going way too far-and there's just no excuse whatsover.
This has horrified the entire town-how could it happen here???Everyone I've spoken to is scandalised-from local businessmen to retirees.
If any of you have grown up in a small town where you know everyone from kindergarten onward,you might possibly understand the impact this has had-otherwise pray it doesn't happen where you live.It's pretty sad.......

 

[triedit]

Thank you very much for clearing this up. We tend to blame the natives because they have disrupted so much in our lives of late. Im not saying that is right, just saying that's what happens.

Ive no clue what got into those cops. But I doubt VERY seriously that a woman and a 6 month old baby were any threat to them.

 

[Impetus]

Hi there!
I'm a 40 something,white,professional female who's been a resident of Sechelt my whole life,so I may have a little more insight than some of those who've posted here

My apologies for the "redneck" comment...but I guess it still applies to the RCMP involved!

Thanks for posting that important piece of the picture!

Muz

 

[Twila]

But I doubt VERY seriously that a woman and a 6 month old baby were any threat to them.

There is one huge side effect of pepper spray and that is that the intended target is NEVER the only casualty...the wind blows so unless your completely up wind.....Not trying to make excuses for the officer involved....

 

[Zzarchov]

There is also no need for the spray to have been used at all.

Im really surprised no one has ever seen a dirty cop before. Even the good cops tend to be unneccecarily violent when arresting people, even if they co-operate (unless they live in a good part of town) they get a foot on the back of their head and their cheek scraped bloody on the sidewalk. And that is reccomended police procedure so I can't fault them too greatly..the policy makers in that context.

I live near Tyendinaga, and I gotta say..they aren't bad people who deserve the scorn they recieve.