Roller skater hurt in police chase
Cops stopped a guy taking a whiz on the sidewalk on 24th Avenue (presumably in the east end). Man gave a fake ID and deked away, and in the ensuing chase by police he fell and took a serious head injury. More great work by our men in blue.
Blork 11:40 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
To be fair, people don’t give cops a false ID just randomly. It usually means they have something to hide and it should be investigated. The alternative history of this event is that the cops just let him go, and in a month’s time we find out he was a serial killer on the run and the cops just let him slip between their fingers because they didn’t want to start a fight. Then we’d be complaining about how lame the cops are because they didn’t get him.
As for the head injury, none of us can fairly criticize cops taking down a fleeing and suspect unless we’ve been in that position of having a potentially violent, potentially armed person flailing at us. It’s all fine and good to say “they’re trained for that,” but shit turns sideways in a millisecond; this isn’t like training under Marquess of Queensberry boxing rules where everyone’s a gentleman and there’s a referee. Shit gets weird and potentially deadly really quick, and the cops have to protect themselves and bystanders while trying to subdue the person whose level of threat is unclear. In this case the guy was on rollerblades, which makes it weirder, and there’s a good chance the injury was entirely due to him being a shitty inline skater.
And no, the above has nothing to do with kneeling on the neck of an already subdued suspect.
Kate 14:42 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
Seems to me an unreasonable escalation of response. But I take your point.
MarcG 15:19 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
His reason for giving a fake name might have been because he was caught urinating in public on his rollerblades. More likely to be a drunk than a serial killer if I were a betting man.
Blork 17:10 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
Sure, MarcG, but this isn’t a casino. Are you seriously suggesting that if the cops just let a guy go because he asked them to, and he later turns out to be a dangerous fugative (or serial killer) that you’d just be like “Oh well, lost that bet!” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
MarcG 17:51 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
I didn’t say anything like that, no.
GC 19:04 on 2021-05-25 Permalink
The problem–for me–is that the police have eroded my trust in them with past lying. So, when I hear “he fell”, part of me wonders if he had help with that.
walkerp 07:08 on 2021-05-26 Permalink
Did he give them a fake ID? Or did they beat him down, find the fake ID and use as an excuse after the fact?
Why do any of you assume any of the police statement of what happened is the truth?
Blork 09:30 on 2021-05-26 Permalink
In my case I don’t assume the police statement is the truth. But I also don’t assume it’s false. I assume nothing. My only issue is with automatically assuming the statement is false and/or that the head injury resulted from incompetence or unnecessary aggression on the part of the cops. (That doesn’t mean I automatically assume it WASN’T that. Short of direct evidence or witnesses, I remain neutral.)
John B 11:01 on 2021-05-26 Permalink
The article says the guy “donné une fausse identité” – so it sounds like he gave a fake name, not an actual ID document.
If he had given an actual ID document I believe that is a big red flag that should be investigated. If he just gave a fake name, (how would they know it’s fake, did he say his name was “I.P. Freely”?), then it feels more grey. However, I can’t imagine that the police, (or probably society in general), want a world where people being detained by the police can just bolt with no consequences.
Joey 14:37 on 2021-05-26 Permalink
This might be a bit of a cheap shot, but here goes. When a year+ into a pandemic, where the only place people can gather is outside, when all the usual public bathrooms are closed, people are gonna pee everywhere. When our friends, who live next to an alley a stone’s throw from Jeanne-Mance Park, complained to their city councillor that parkgoers had turned their alley into a ruelle jaune, so to speak, the councillor said ah yes the park has been rather full lately, what can you do about that, and hey if it happens again, please call the cops. He did not say, oh right, we were supposed to install toilets! Or, oh right, escalating minor discretions by calling the police can lead to terrible outcomes. Nope, the message was clear: you kids should hold it in and if you don’t, we have some bored cops looking for someone to harass. And this is the pogressive party in power!