Troublante histoire sur le blogue cycliste de The Gazette, On Two Wheels. J'ai trouvé un post intéressant dans mon lecteur RSS, on y parle d'une agression alléguée par la police de Montréal contre, et c'est un détail, une cycliste. Comme je préfère toujours lire les longs articles sur le site même, je m'y suis dirigé, et rendu sur le blogue, ne pouvais plus trouver l'entrée en question. Deux autres entrées y ont disparu: les deux traitent de la mort du cycliste torontois Darcy Allan. Les trois entrées manquantes ont toutes été écrites en septembre et sont toutes trois assez controversées. Est-ce une directive de The Gazette au blogueur Aaron McComony? Aucune idée, et comme je ne veux pas mettre ledit blogueur dans l'embarras, je ne lui demanderai même pas.
En attendant, voici l'entrée d'hier qu'on ne trouve plus sur le blogue.
An email message has been making the rounds of those of us in the bike community. A man who witnessed a strange incident of apparent police aggression is trying to reunite the bike he took charge of at the scene with it's owner. I only have his account to go by so I'm just going to post it verbatim. If anyone knows the girl involved in the incident email me at ontwowheelsmtl@gmail.com and hopefully we can get her bike back to her.
Hi,
I'm completely unsure who to write to about this, but I was witness to an incident of police violence towards a cyclist today. If you can help me, or know someone who I can turn to - please let me know.
I'll try to give a shortened version of the story:
This evening, a girl riding on Prince-Arthur at St-Domninique (I know...) was grabbed by two officers as she passed them. The result was that the girl was violently thrown from her bike and her purse was torn open by one of the policemen as she fell.
As the girl lay huddled on the ground sobbing, the officers simply towered over her, scolding. She would not/could not respond to their 'inquiries' and demands. After a while, I kneeled down and began to speak with her. She calmed down somewhat. I couldn't get her name, but she told me she was very, very ill (there was cold medication in her purse) and that she just wanted to go home. Apparently, the officers would not allow this. She also told me that she was dismounting as they grabbed her, and that there was no need for such a level of violence on their part. I offered to escort her home, but the officers wouldn't allow that either. Anyway, she seemed quite traumatized by the whole thing, and the cops were only aggravating the problem.
An ambulance had been called, but she expressed a total disinterest in going to the hospital. She said so expressly. By the time seven officers and two paramedics had arrived, I was physically pushed away from the scene and the girl was *forced* on to a stretcher/removed by the paramedics. Impressively, many nearby diners and pedestrians - witnesses to the whole event - came forth and began protesting to the cops. Many of these people were intimidated away. None of the policemen/policewomen on the scene admitted to being a supervisor, so the was no higher authority to appeal to at the time.
The cops just left her bike there, unattended - so I collected it. Since I didn't get her name, so Urgences Santé couldn't tell me where she was taken. I have no idea how to obtain a police report (if one was made) but the officers likely operate out of Station 38, on Rachel. Even so, I don't know if they can release the girl's contact info.
My immediate concern is that this girl get her bike back. My overarching interest is in filing as a witness to a complaint against the police (if this girl proceeds down that road).
So. if you have any advice or directions you can point me in, I would really appreciate it.
Just in case it's not clear from the text the girl's only crime was riding her bike down Prince Arthur. It's an easy mistake to make and many cyclists in the city don't know it's against the rules. I'm resisting making any comment on it until more facts come in but, more importantly, if anyone knows anything that would get this girls bike back to her it would be much appreciated.
For the sake of privacy please email me rather than posting in the comments. Thanks.
