OTTAWA - A judge Thursday released the video of Stacy Bonds' treatment at the hands of Ottawa police after she was arrested early in the morning on Sept. 6, 2008.
Here's what the video shows:
* Bonds is led into police headquarters by the arresting officer with her hands cuffed behind her back as Sgt. Steven Desjourdy leans against the wall.
* The arresting officer -- yanking Bonds by her left arm -- hands Bonds to Special Const. Melanie Morris, who takes her to a desk where Bonds turns and says something to Morris, though there is no audio so it's unclear what.
* When Bonds' cuffs are removed, Morris pushes her into the desk, but Bonds pushes back. Morris immediately knees Bonds once in the hip and twice in the lower back and grabs her hair with a gloved hand as the arresting officer and another tall, burly male officer step in.
* An overhead camera shows Bonds saying something to the officers, but it's unclear what.
* At this point Desjourdy comes into the room.
* The two male officers restrain Bonds, pushing her into the desk as Morris searches her, throwing items on the floor where they're kicked aside for Desjourdy to pick up. Morris also pulls Bonds' shoes off.
* After about a minute and 20 seconds of this, Bonds kicks one sock-clad foot backwards -- it's unclear from the video why -- and is wrestled away from the desk by the two male officers and thrown to the floor
* As the cops swing Bonds around, her foot hits Morris' right leg. Morris, clearly in pain, limps away and leans against a garbage can.
* As Desjourdy watches and a fourth male officer steps in, one officer grasps Bonds' neck while the other bends her arm behind her back and they turn her face down.
* As Bonds lies face down and unresisting on the floor, one of the officers fetches a riot shield and puts it on top of Bonds' legs. Morris leaves the room.
* One of the male officers leaves the room and returns with a pair of scissors, then uses them to cut off Bonds' shirt and bra, slicing them up the back as he kneels over her head.
* Meanwhile a limping Morris returns and stands over Bonds while the four male officers finish cutting off her top.
* Two of the male officers then pull Bonds to her feet while Desjourdy watches from behind and the fourth officer stands in front of her with the riot shield at the ready as Morris looks on.
CHIEF SPEAKS HIS MIND
Ottawa Police Chief Vern White released the following statement Thursday about the video evidence in the Stacy Bonds incident:
Today, the Ontario Court released a video of the incident dated September 6, 2008 involving Ottawa Police officers and Ms. Stacy Bonds. I understand that Ottawa residents will be shocked by the video.
As the Chief of Police, I was very concerned by the comments made by Justice Lajoie in court last October 29th and I immediately ordered an investigation by our Professional Standards Section to review our procedures as well as our officers' actions.
The Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) invoked their mandate on November 19th and we are cooperating fully with that office. We will not be making further comments on this matter nor the release of a video by the court, until such time as the SIU investigation is completed.
We ask for your understanding and patience considering that Ottawa Police cannot comment on SIU matters per Section 12 of Regulation 673/98, enacted under the Police Services Act, which states that the police force and members of the police force shall not, during the course of an investigation by the SIU, disclose to any person any information with respect to the incident or the investigation.
Thank you.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.
No comments:
Post a Comment