What began as a fine over a metro ticket ending with a man in handcuffs.
That’s what Montrealer Kai Coulombe says happened Tuesday night after being stopped by Société de transport de Montréal (STM) special constables in an escalating confrontation that left him with injuries and a court date for obstructing justice.
“I felt terrified,” Coulombe told CityNews. “I felt like those videos you see on social media.
“I asked him multiple times, like ‘what are you guys doing,’ out of pure shock and desperation and feeling so small and being attacked.”
The 27-year-old says it all started because he didn’t scan his metro ticket after entering through a faulty open gate.
“I’m taking a bus afterwards when I get off the metro anyways, I’m gonna have to scan my card anyways, so in my head, I didn’t really see it as, like, ‘jumping the metro.’”
After getting off at Henri-Bourassa station, Coulombe says he tried to talk himself out of the situation. “Like I’ll walk to the ticket booth right now and buy another ticket.”
That’s when Coulombe says things escalated.
“He grabbed me by my chest over here. And as you can see, I actually have a lot of skin torn and a red mark from where he grabbed me.”
He alleges three constables then restrained him before bringing him to the ground and handcuffing him.
“Eventually I heard them say ‘à terre, à terre,” Coulombe recounted.
“Threw me onto the floor. They put my head into the ground, which is why I have a cut over here as you can see.”
The Montrealer says he still feels pretty beat up even days after the incident.
In a statement to CityNews, the STM says Coulombe was trying to “evade a lawful stop by leaving a controlled area despite verbal instructions from officers.” The transit authority also said Coulombe “actively resisted arrest, including violent acts towards the officers,” while he was being detained.
“Observable evidence and officer reports lead to the conclusion that the intervention was conducted in accordance with the laws and standards governing the use of force,” according to STM public affairs advisor Laurence Houde-Roy.
“The arrest resulted not from the initial stop, but from acts of criminal obstruction and assault committed against peace officers.”
Coulombe says police were called after he was brought to a private holding room. He was criminally charged for obstructing an officer of the peace and assaulting an officer, on top of a $236 ticket given to him by the STM for fare evasion.
The Montreal man is wondering if his race played any part in how the situation unfolded. “If I was completely white, not just partially white, I don’t think this would have happened either.”
He’s now been summoned to municipal court for a hearing on July 21, which will allow him to hear the case against him and enter a plea. His charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
“That could create long-term consequences, not only for his freedom, but also for his economic activity,” said Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), referring to things like background checks from employers.
Coulombe is denying the allegations, saying he never intended to harm anyone. “I was flailing my arms and my legs and one of them said that I kicked him,” Coulombe clamed.
“The moment you touch a police officer without officer consent, that can be considered an assault,” explained Niemi.
The SPVM have declined to comment.
For now, Coulombe says he’s taking it one step at a time, with the next one being finding out a way to hire a lawyer.
“I didn’t think i would ever get into any legal trouble like this and a lawyer is definitely outside of my budget,” he said.
“If he did not intend to commit these offences, then it could be easy for him to defend himself against it,” added Niemi.
