A woman was seriously injured Wednesday evening when she was knocked down by a snowplow in eastern Ville-Marie.
Updates from February, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Attache ta tuque. Based on video evidence, Mamadi Fara Camara has been released and all charges have been stayed against him in the Park Extension police beating case. Going by this new story, Camara should never even have been a suspect. The Polytechnique must invite him back immediately.
But what happened to Sanjay Vig still has to be explained.
Update: Incidentally, CBC is now describing Mr Camara as a doctoral student and the Polytechnique is prepared to allow him to resume his work there.
CTV says Sanjay Vig had ticketed Mr Camara earlier that day, but that nothing linked him to the later incident, which remains to be elucidated.
MarcG
So the cop didn’t even know who attacked him? And the driver did actually call the police as a witness and not as some kind of trick like the press accused him of earlier? I’d like to hear his account of how they treated him in custody.
walkerp
I speculate also that Sanjay Vig’s ethnicity is a factor here. I imagine it is not easy being a cop of colour anywhere in North America but especially in Quebec.
I’m amazed that the system let Camara off so quickly. I hope it is a sign of things improving and not just that the video was so batshit crazy they had no choice.david225
^ Wasn’t your very last post on this confirming that the cop is guilty of racism? Now you’re here saying that of course the cop is innocent, he’s non-white? And you’ve moved on to expressing surprise that the prosecutors’ office – a bastion of progressivism in Quebec – would dismiss so quickly? Let me guess, they’re racist too?
Also, Kate, while it’s nice the guy is innocent, this entire incident outed the uber driver as fraudulently claiming to be a doctoral candidate when he’s just a year three master’s student. While I’m sure they’ll let him back in, the humiliation of that (and, I guess potential for repercussions in his permanent record) may not be so easy to overcome. Bad luck for him to get caught up in this.
Kate
david, the distinction for most of us between a master’s and a doctorate is the least important detail in this whole shemozzle.
MarcG
That bit about the difference between a doctoral candidate and masters student is surely satire.
MarcG
I think I finally understand why david### doesn’t use the same handle every time: it prevents me from writing a script that replaces his name with “The African”.
walkerp
David, clearly you are not capable of holding two competing ideas in your head at the same time. I will try and spell it out for you.
The cop or other cops may well have profiled Camara because he was black. This is possible to do even though the cop himself is a person of colour (hint: systemic racism).
That the cop is a person of colour is a possible factor in his behaviour (being extra aggressive to prove to his colleagues that he is one of them; attacking another person of colour who is a step lower than him on the power scale).
His behaviour is to be criticized as is the entire force, but I can also by sympathetic to him as a human being who may have had some tough situations in his life because of his ethnicity.
Yes, the prosecutor’s office are as seeped in systemic racism as the cops themselves. Cops and prosecutor’s often collude together to get convictions (their goal) and it is easier to convict minorities, again because of inherent biases by juries and judges.
I hope that helps you actually think about some of these issues a little more deeply.
walkerp
Ah the plot thickens. So now the story is that Camara witnessed something and called the cops, but he was the one who got arrested. So the implication is that Sanjay Vig was actually attacked but by someone else. I am still skeptical, simply because of the way the cops keep changing the story. This whole thing stinks. I wonder if it was cop on cop violence? Or some corrupt deal that went sour?
dhomas
Still lots of guesswork going on in these threads. Personally, I’ll wait for the facts to come to light. I believe there will be an independent investigation, from what I’ve been reading. What this whole story has shown, though, is that body cams would likely take a lot of the guesswork out of these types of situations. I’m hopeful that there will be some silver lining here in that this might accelerate the adoption of body cams.
qatzelok
“It turns out that the event actually took place in London, Ontario, and involved a teenager being hit by a scooter on the sidewalk in 2017. We apologize for the inaccuracy and any social damage these provocative errors may have caused.” – Commercial Media
walkerp
Not sure how you can take a dig at the media here. They just reported what the cops were telling them. It’s the SPVM who were lying.
I didn’t realize, but supposedly Camara spent six nights in jail. He must be fucking traumatized. I hope he sues the shit out of them.
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Kate
The city launched its Mobility Squad in summer 2018, after complaints that construction sites, both public and private, were blocking traffic. It’s since been expanded, lots of fines have been handed out and members of the squad will soon be able to order vehicles towed away. But city hall opposition has rustled up an expert to say it could do a better job.
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Kate
I don’t always see it noted, but the city has yet again prolonged the state of emergency which has now been in effect since March 27, 2020.
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Kate
It’s quite a story elsewhere on the web that Cas Anvar has been fired from the show The Expanse after allegations of sexual misconduct. Anvar is known here for having founded Repercussion Theatre in 1988, the group that still does Shakespeare in the Park (although not last summer). Anvar hasn’t been associated with the group in a long time, but I’ve been wondering if any repercussions from this story were going to crop up locally.
ant6n
Oh no, not Alex the pilot. Oh well.
Uatu
The season 5 finale is great!
Faiz imam
Yup….
I’ve been a big member of the expanse community(Amazing show, even better books) for many years. When the news of the allegations came out last year we were waiting for the inevitable. Such a pity, but of course it must be done.
It’s really too bad. He’s a key figure in the books and i’m very interested to see how they will make it work next year.
They replaced another, less important actor last season to middling response, harder to do with a main character like him. They unfortunately did nto know till after they finished shooting, so no time to edit anything in.
Had no idea about his Montreal connections. Cool.
Meezly
Damn, he was very likeable and charismatic as the pilot. But if he’s been a sexually harassing dickhead, the show made a good call.
Uatu
Yeah it’s hard to watch the show and take his character seriously when you know what the actor’s done. Like trying to watch the Cosby Show without cringing
Faiz imam
I rewatched the entire show alongside my wife in preparation for the new season. It was her first watch and she doesn’t know about his situation. I decided not to tell her till after we were done.
Faiz Imam
I hadn’t actually watched the last episode when I posted the above.
But interestingly turns out they did have a plan, and changed the arc of the show to deal with the issue. They did a pretty good job too.
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Kate
La Presse has more on the Park Extension police attack story from two residents who say they gave refuge to Sanjay Vig, the policeman who alleges an attack from driver Mamadi III Fara Camara last week. I don’t remember a previous mention that Camara was driving for Uber at the time. That the driver took Vig’s gun and assaulted him in the face with some object, but didn’t shoot him, is more or less clarified here. Whether the driver also pulled the trigger and shot off a couple of bullets is less clear, but surely the police have technicians that can determine whether a gun has recently been used.
Camara’s basically sunk himself, whatever the details. He’s barred from returning to the Polytechnique, and, depending on his immigration status, may be facing deportation after this.
[But see the post from later on this same date. Nothing written in this post has any credibiity any longer.]
Bill Binns
I went back and read the comments on the previous thread about this incident and mmm *chef kiss*, right on script. This guy was being spoken of with nearly Fredy Villanueva levels of sainthood just 48 hours ago. All it took was video of the incident and a cop who is a visible minority himself.
Still no sympathy for the cop who got put in the hospital on our behalf?
Let’s hope Mr Camara keeps in touch and keeps in touch and lets us know how his life is going after prison and deportation.
David621
Seems pretty clear the perp took his shot but didn’t strike true:
“Il a toutefois indiqué avoir entendu une balle siffler à son oreille lors de l’altercation.
Des témoins disent également avoir entendu deux coups de feu lors de l’évènement.”
And Bill – to be fair, the commenters on the other thread automatically assumed that the perp was the victim of the cop, the cop’s actions were motivated by hardcore racism, and the cop framed the innocent with attempted murder charges . . . BUT nobody said the African guy was some sort of saint, the general consensus was really only that logic dictates that the cop stopped and falsely arrested the guy due to racism (and, possibly, violent tendencies).
We’ll see what happens, but I’d be surprised if the guy’s counsel doesn’t use a laundry list of mitigating factors to win a slap on the wrist plea, so that if he finds a sucker Canadian to marry and keeps his nose clean at Bordeaux, he’ll be back driving uber cars before Trudeau’s next election.
qatzelok
Bill Binns was “spot on” last time.
I think the anti-police bias of this blog’s commentariat has a lot to do with the general age demographic here.
When I was 15, I also feared and loathed “the narcs.” And Bill probably did too.
Tee Owe
Qatzelok – you calling me old? or young? Whichever, watch it, I can take offense either way! And BTW – how would you know?
walkerp
We still don’t know what happened to trigger the conflict. Just because the cop lost the fight doesn’t mean that he didn’t start it and didn’t overreact and wasn’t motivated by racism. Why did he stop the guy in the first place?
There is so much missing info here as well as misinformation. Why was it reported that he was shot at first? A lot of it feels like police obfuscation to protect one of their own who may have fucked up on many levels.
And where is the video?MarcG
Anybody know how I can buy some sweet propaganda like this? https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2021-02-02/lettre-a-l-agent-sanjay-vig/merci-beaucoup-d-etre-la-pour-nous.php
dhomas
I’m glad we’re getting to the bottom of this story, but there is still a section of time between when Mr Vig stopped Mr Camara and when he got to that apartment that merits investigation. Also, I said it in the last thread and will say it again: a cop that loses control over his weapon should probably be removed from active duty and given another task.
j2
It’s interesting how some are more interested in their internal narrative than what happened. I’ve read a lot of allegations and an account how the officer has been suspended for inappropriate conduct, and it seems to me everyone here could be at fault.
But see, reading the above commentary I was under the impression there was definitive proof of what happened. That LaPresse article certainly didn’t add anything besides an account that the cop fled from someone allegedly with a gun.
First, it seems to me I don’t want a cop to run from that. Second, how did this escalate to the point he had to? Stop the Uber driver, they remove your gun, shoot off a couple rounds and you run. I’m sure this is as open and shut as some of the commentariat think.
Kevin
All charges against Camara have been dropped.
walkerp
Chef's kiss to you Bill Binns
I told you so.
Can we talk about this as a perfect example of structural racism? Not just what happened, but how certain people on this site were so quick to assume that he was guilty?
Again, though i feel chuffed, it really was the obvious call. The SPVM is a racist institution whose primary goal is to protect and enrich their bosses and themselves. Imagine if the video wasn’t there. This poor guy’s life would be absolutely destroyed simply for the “crime” of driving while black. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the story.Mark Côté
The sad thing is that this probably won’t change the conversation here the next time this happens.
dhomas
Is the video mentioned available anywhere? Or is it still confidential as the investigation is ongoing?
MarcG
I haven’t been able to find it.
qatzelok
Tee Owe, I absolutely know you’re either young or old, and both are extremely offensive.
Tee Owe
Qatzelok – you’re totally right on the first part. On the second part, I keep trying to be humorous and I keep failing – I’ll stick to my day job.
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Kate
Eater sizes up some of the offerings for Poutine Week, which is bound to be somewhat subdued this year. As they note, some are fairly canonical, others stray so far from the standard format they hardly count as poutine at all.
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Kate
Mathew Roberge, the convict who has killed a guy, stabbed a random woman in the neck, and tends to go missing from halfway houses, is back in jail after a recent walkabout. It is not often I would say this, but throw away the key.
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Kate
Snow removal will start Wednesday at 19:00 and last as long as it has to. Roads have been tricky.
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