Montreal police officer charged with assaulting unhoused Indigenous man

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A Montreal police officer has been charged with assault after allegedly fracturing an Indigenous man’s skull during a police intervention outside a homeless shelter, The Gazette has learned.

Officer Williams Bélanger, 27, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault causing bodily harm. He is set to stand trial in January.

In security camera footage of the incident, Bélanger can be seen suddenly pushing Johnny Inukpak Tukalak, causing him to fall backward against the concrete sidewalk. His body goes limp on impact.

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“I didn’t expect the cop to push me,” Tukalak, a 35-year-old originally from Puvirnituq, in northern Quebec, said in a recent interview. “I got blacked out and ended up in the hospital.”

The case marks one of the rare instances in which a Montreal police officer has been charged following an investigation by Quebec’s police oversight agency, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes.

The police intervention in question took place in May 2022.

Projets Autochtones du Québec, which operates the shelter where it happened, declined to comment on this article or explain why the police were called that night, given the continuing criminal proceedings.

Security footage of the incident reviewed by The Gazette begins around 1:40 a.m.

In a video showing one angle, four officers can be seen escorting Tukalak away from the downtown shelter. He appears unstable on his feet as he walks.

Tukalak appears to be co-operating with the officers, walking in the direction they’re leading him despite turning around to face them and speak.

“I was saying, ‘I’m going, I’m listening to you, I’m going,’” Tukalak explained to The Gazette.

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A few metres away from the shelter’s entrance, one of the officers shoves Tukalak with one hand after he turns toward them. He wobbles on his feet, before another officer steps forward to push him with two hands. Tukalak falls backward against the concrete, appearing to strike his head.

He stops moving after hitting the ground, his legs twisted together and arms splayed out to the side. The two officers stop in their tracks. The one who pushed Tukalak then bends over next to him, trying to rouse him awake.

A separate video of the incident shows Tukalak lying on the concrete, motionless, for at least one minute. When another person approaches the scene, looking concerned, one of the officers keeps them away.

According to a lawyer’s letter sent to the city of Montreal on his behalf in April, Tukalak was rushed to the Montreal General Hospital that night, where he received a diagnosis of an occipital skull fracture and a subdural hematoma  —  meaning blood had gathered between his skull and brain.

“As he fell to the ground, Mr. Tukalak brutally struck his head on the ground, causing a large hematoma on the back of his head,” the letter states, noting he became unresponsive.

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Tukalak was discharged from the hospital soon after. However, the letter alleges he needed to be hospitalized again one month later for a period of two months because of complications from his injuries.

“Due to the events described herein,” the letter states, “our client was forced to undergo surgery consisting of a right frontotemporoparietal craniotomy and evacuation of a subdural hematoma.”

Bélanger is charged under a section of the Criminal Code punishable by summary conviction. The law firm representing him in the criminal case declined to comment on this article. The city of Montreal also declined, citing the possible legal action as a reason.

The Montreal police department would not comment on the specifics of the case, or specify whether Bélanger has continued to patrol while awaiting trial.

In an email response, a spokesperson for the department said there are “different mechanisms” in place to address instances in which an officer faces criminal charges.

Depending on the type of charge, the department said, an internal committee will meet to analyze the case and decide on the steps to be taken.

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“The committee ensures that the public is protected and that the temporary measure is consistent with the purpose of the case,” the department added, noting the officer in question could be subject to a paid suspension or transferred to a different role with restrictions.

A lack of transparency?

The investigation that led to the criminal charge was carried out by Quebec’s Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI).

The BEI is best known for investigating any instance in Quebec in which someone is killed or seriously injured during a police operation. The agency calls these cases independent investigations.

When the agency launches an independent investigation, it will issue a news release announcing it and release further details as the case progresses.

The BEI, however, is also mandated to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct committed by police officers or criminal allegations against an officer in which the complainant is Indigenous. In these instances, the agency does not announce its investigations.

The investigation into the police call during which Tukalak was injured was treated as a criminal allegation, not an independent investigation. That’s why there was never a news release about it, or any mention of the charge brought against Bélanger last year.

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The BEI’s decision not to release details about the criminal allegations that fall under its mandate has drawn criticism before, with critics arguing it points to a lack of transparency on the agency’s behalf.

In a 2020 report ordered by the Quebec government, Fannie Lafontaine, a human rights lawyer and professor, took aim at the lack of information surrounding the investigations.

“It is impossible for me to think of a single valid justification,” Lafontaine wrote, as to why the public would expect more accountability from the BEI when it investigates injuries during a police intervention than when it investigates allegations of sexual assault or from Indigenous complainants.

“It seems that the only potential reason for this is that the current rules and practices are ill-suited to the full scope of the BEI’s mandate,” she added.

Since 2016, the BEI has launched more than 420 independent investigations across the province. Two have so far led to charges.

On the other hand, according to its latest annual report, the BEI has handled 461 criminal investigations. Twenty-one have resulted in charges against police officers.

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Contacted for this article, the BEI defended its approach and pushed back against the notion it lacks transparency.

“We have specific obligations regarding the communication of independent investigations, which we must respect. These obligations do not apply to (criminal) allegations,” a spokesperson wrote in an email response.

“What’s more, for a police investigation to be effective, we must work with the utmost discretion to obtain convincing evidence,” they added.

Pressed on why the police intervention in which Tukalak was injured wasn’t treated as an independent investigation  —  which would have triggered a news release  —  the BEI said it didn’t meet the criteria.

Specifically, it said when Montreal police reported the incident to the BEI, and after investigative steps by the agency, there were no “serious injuries” related to the police intervention.

“The file in question was, therefore, treated as a criminal allegation,” the spokesperson said, under the BEI’s mandate to investigate cases in which the complainant is Indigenous.

The BEI initially referred The Gazette to its access to information division when asked about how the case was handled. A request for details concerning the investigation was declined.

According to data obtained through a separate access to information request, two Montreal police officers have been charged following criminal investigations by the BEI: one for assault causing bodily harm, the other for sexual assault.

jfeith@postmedia.com 

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