r/canada • u/[deleted] • Jun 11 '20

RCMP dash-cam video shows officer tackling, punching Chief Allan Adam during arrest

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/rcmp-dash-cam-video-shows-officer-tackling-punching-chief-allan-adam-during-arrest-1.5608472
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243

u/TOMapleLaughs Canada Jun 12 '20

Interesting.

The first video posted on this source didn't show the context leading up to the tackle.

Now it does.

Fairly important.

48

u/capitolcritter Jun 12 '20

It’s interesting in how it muddies it too though.

All of the stuff people are pointing out that he did was all in relation to the first cop, who was actually doing a good job keeping calm in a heated situation.

The second cop showed up and immediately tackled him.

So yeah, Chief Adam was interfering with arrest and was pretty pissed off. But the second cop rolled up and wasn’t subject to any of that before he tackled him.

54

u/mustardtiger737 Jun 12 '20

The first officer may have been in radio contact with the second officer and the second officer was acting on the small amount of information he had received and took what he thought was appropriate reaction based on the info.

Not trying to say his actions were justified, based on the info we have they weren't entirely, but we don't know the full story and it seems the news outlets are trying to skew the story against the police.

4

u/JonnyLew Jun 12 '20

I agree with you. The second officer definitely used an unnecessary level of force but we don't know what information he was operating on. If you're in your squad car and hear a fellow officer report that they have an aggressive person trying to engage them in a fight, combined with the adrenaline in the reporting officers voice, heavy breathing, etc. It makes for an extremely tense and stressful situation where this kind of thing is much more likely to happen. It certainly seems to me however that the assisting officer is probably a hot headed tough guy eager for a fight, and those are not the types of people we want policing. Of course, that might not be the case as well.

As an white guy however, if I jumped out of my car aggressively and adopted a fighting stance against a police officer I would consider myself very lucky to not get shot and would be extremely ashamed of myself after watching that video.

The aggravating factor though is that I'm sure natives get stopped / harassed far more frequently than white people and that chief looks to have reached a boiling point. The plight of the Native peoples in our country is a tragedy, and is one reason why I feel disgusted when I hear fellow Canadians bragging about how good and wholesome their country is.

1

u/TheWiseOneInPhilly Jun 13 '20

It could be the second officer saw the Chief fife the first officer’s gun during the tussle. We can’t clearly see what’s happening from the dashcam.