Calgary mother looks for answers after 2019 video of her son’s violent arrest is released

CALGARY (CityNews) – A mother is questioning the conduct of some Calgary police officers after a 2019 video purports to show the violent arrest of her son.

The video is from April of last year but was recently published to social media and shows the violent arrest of a 16-year-old boy.

“Everything in that video is wrong,” said the boy’s mother. “You don’t call a child, let alone anybody, a p***y or a*****e. You don’t say that stuff,”

More than a year later, she is looking for justice and calls the incident a case of police brutality.

“They need to be accountable for their actions.”

CityNews is not able to identify the mother or her son, as the son was 16 years old at the time of his arrest and is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The teenager said he was standing on the sidewalk, observing police arrest someone he knew.

“When I later asked officers why he was being arrested, one of the officers decided to grab a hold of me, without me committing any crimes or doing anything to get arrested in the first place. After that it escalated into 4 police officers on top of me,” said the boy.

A Calgary police bodycam video shows the teenager being held on the ground by four officers. At one point his head is forcibly held to the ground and later you can see blood streaked across his face.

WARNING: The video is a court exhibit and contains violence and language that may not be suitable for all audiences.

The teen said he was chill and cool, but throughout the arrest, one officer continues to call the teen a misogynistic term. When he is taken to the police truck, his head hits the door.

“I felt scared for my life because I know I did not do anything wrong. And for the force that they used on top of me, I just did not feel safe,” said the teen.

He was charged and later convicted in court for assaulting a police officer.

The body cam video was played in court.

“I was very shocked. I actually stormed out of courtroom when I found out he was guilty,” said the mother.

The teen’s mom then filed a complaint with the Professional Standards Section. According to CPS, it is a service offered by Calgary Police Services for addressing public and internal concerns and complaints about the conduct of police officers, the policies of CPS or the service provided by CPS.

She gets regular updates telling her they are collecting evidence to be summarized in a report.

Calgary police told CityNews in a statement, “We are aware of the incident and a complaint has been made against the officers involved, which we are investigating. To allow for a fair and unbiased investigation, we are unable to comment further until the investigation is complete.”

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The mother has felt the system was dragging the matter out and with all the anti-police brutality marches going on across North America and here in Calgary, she’s turned to social media in hopes of finding justice for her son, by making those officers accountable for their actions.