Random Violence And The OPS: WHOPPER WATCH

“The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) received a call for service about a wanted person who was seen in the area, When police arrived, the person ran away from police and a chase ensued. While we will not provide further comments on the incident, so as to protect the privacy of the individual, we can confirm that it was a case of mistaken identity, The person was spoken to and released unconditionally.”

Ottawa Police Service statement

The threat of random violence is everywhere.

Particularly after you’ve committed the heinous crime of walking home from Starbucks. And you have no criminal record. And when the Ottawa Police Service is involved. And you’re black and young.

Kane Niyondagara, 27, from the reports on CBC, looks like a pretty decent guy. Your garden-variety Ottawan minding his own business.

But a call came in saying someone thought they saw a murder suspect. So Niyondagara fit the description. He was black and young though he looks nothing like the suspect.

No doubt the police were nervous, maybe scared. Maybe the person they saw had a gun.

So the three officers told him to stop and put his hands up. So he did. He was no doubt shocked and scared. He had every right to be. Then Niyondagara thought he might be taken down brutally on a concrete sidewalk so he ran. That’s what scared people do.

And guess what? He was taken down brutally. He was shot with a taser, kneed in the back, had his face pushed down in the snow and punched. This is a good guy just walking home from Starbucks.

Nothing of this is mentioned in the police statement which is a classic case of cover-your-butt about this beat down. The police in the quote above say they are protecting Niyondagara’s privacy but their ‘suspect’ is on CBC discussing the violent incident. You could call it assault. He feels there’s something more important here than his privacy. But the police are very concerned about his privacy. So generous.

The police didn’t appear to be protecing him when they roughly took him down. It’s on video.

The police write it off as mistaken identity. Furthermore he was “spoken to”. Yes and roughed up. Maybe the police were administering a bit of justice before the justice system got a hold of their “suspect”.

So the police aren’t protecting the privacy of Niyondagara. They are protecting themselves in case the “suspect” decides to sue them. From the evidence presented in the story, it appears the OPS would lose.

One wonders if your agent would be treated the same way as an old white man who is pretty much harmless. Probably not. But ‘probably’ is the right word and is used carefully. From the abnormal number of searches on this website for things like the Ottawa Police Service Board, it looks as though The Bulldog’s frequent criticism of the police is not lost on those in blue. So doubtful your agent is very popular at the cop shop. I wasn’t when I criticized them at the Citizen years ago. Got a few phone calls inviting me to tour the station to show that everything is just ducky and I would be convinced that my wayward ways were just wrong because the police are always right. I declined. I visited a police station when I was in high school, thanks. Their offer was insulting.

Your agent was reminded recently by someone in the security field that the OPS has many good officers. And he’s correct. I know a number of officers and they are good Ottawans like Niyondagara. However given the Freedom Convoy and many instances of police misdeeds, those good officers might tell their brothers and sisters who aren’t so good to clean up their acts. One wonders what the public doesn’t see when no one is looking.

You would think the police could say they were sorry instead of cowardly hiding behind “privacy” but then that would be admitting responsibility and thus they would be liable for damages. Well in any legal action in this incident, the police are likely to lose so saying sorry might reduce the pecuniary damages. Not a bad strategy because our police are very practical.

The statement above shows that the rot in the OPS is institutionalized, though we knew this before, so reform from within is unlikely. And the no-versight OPSB won’t address it. That body appears to be a partner in covering up. Pretty comfortable arrangement.

Maybe Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and councillors Marty Carr and Cathy Curry who are on the board could bring this up at Monday’s OPSB meeting. It’s at 4 p.m. and on video so it can be tightly controlled.

But if they did raise the issue, people would think they were listening to someone else, so quiet they are at OPSB meetings.

It could result in a case of mistaken identity.

Ken Gray

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