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| NEWS > 21 June 2007 |
Other related articles:
Sharpton plans Fifth Avenue ma
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton and other community leaders planned a silent march down Fifth Avenue Saturday to protest the police shooting that killed an unarmed man and wounded two friends on his wedding day.
Marchers will congregate at 59th Street at noon and walk south, said Sharpton said at a news conference Friday. He called the event a moral appeal to change city police practices.
“Many will be shopping for trinkets and toys. We will be shopping for justice,” Sharpton said. “The fact that we are going on probably the most visible street in the world tomorrow, you don’... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Montreal Gazette - Montreal,Qu
21 June 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Montreal Police
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A case of 'driving while black
If you're black and drive a fancy car, get ready for racial profiling by Montreal police, says the father of a family that complains of being harassed last week.
Lynwald Cox, 26, and his mother, Julie Cox, say they were harassed June 13 when police stopped him for making an illegal left turn while he was driving his Nissan Maxima near the Van Horne Shopping Centre.
The Chateauguay residents went public yesterday with their complaint to the police ethics commission, but Ryan Cox, father of Lynwald and husband of Julie, says it's part of a pattern.
He's been stopped often and he feels it's because he's black.
"I drive a Lincoln Town Car, my other son drives an Infiniti, my daughter a late-model Ford - none of us has ever had so much as a parking ticket," he said.
"If a black person is driving a certain car, you have to be a pimp, drug dealer or pusher," the senior Cox, a vocational teacher at the English Montreal School Board, said bitterly.
Montreal police will not tolerate racial profiling or discriminatory behaviour, Inspector Paul Chablo stressed yesterday.
"I can tell you with the greatest confidence that we have a
zero tolerance policy for any type of discrimination or racial profiling," he said.
Chablo also cautioned it would be unfair to judge the officers prematurely, as they have an entirely different version of events.
Police in their report said Lynwald Cox punched an officer in the back of the head. They also said Cox followed a police car because "he wasn't happy about getting a ticket."
The Cox family outlined their complaint at the Black Coalition of Quebec offices yesterday.
On June 13, a police officer told Lynwald Cox, an apprentice automobile technician, he had taken a wrong turn. Cox said he replied he did not see the sign.
The officer then gave him a citation ordering an inspection for allegedly having windows that were too dark. (A check later showed they were not.)
This is where the alleged harassment began, Cox said, and where the police version differs.
Cox says he told police: "Nobody has ever harassed me about my windows being too tinted."
After receiving a ticket - which police say he was reluctant to accept - for an illegal turn, Cox left. Police "clapped their hands and said, 'Have a nice day,' " he said.
Cox says he drove up Van Horne Ave. to Decarie Blvd., where a police car cut him off. According to police, it was Cox who followed police "very closely from behind."
"Why would I follow them to get another ticket?" Cox asked.
Cox said he made a left on Decarie and police followed him. A police cruiser pulled ahead, zig-zagging and not letting him pass.
Near Edouard Montpetit Blvd. "they slammed on their brakes and cut me off again and then I honked (at) them," Cox said.
Police ordered Cox out of the car and "jumped me, pepper-sprayed me. I have bruises, I had to go to emergency and my hands are still numb from the handcuffs."
His eyeglasses were broken.
Cox claimed one officer, pointing a gun, said as he was handcuffed, "You're not so big now. Who's the man now? You're going to be sucking my d--k now."
Police contend they asked Cox, "What's the deal, why are you following us?" He became aggressive and assaulted the officer.
Cox's mother, who has worked at St. Mary's Hospital for 28 years, is charged with obstructing a peace officer.
Julie Cox, who laughed at the suggestion her son was tailing the police car, said she screamed when an officer pointed a gun at her son, then at her. "When the same officer lifted his baton ... I went between my son and the police to prevent him from hitting my son.
"We were both pepper-sprayed," she added. "I was kicked, I was pushed. I had to go to St. Mary's Hospital."
Julie Cox said she asked why the cops were doing this, and one replied: "Shut up, you're under arrest. Don't ask any questions."
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