Videos showing Quebec police pulling a Black man out of his car by his hair during a traffic stop have circulated online.

The May 25 incident occurred the same day George Floyd was killed by officer Derek Chauvin, which ignited international protests against police brutality. The traffic stop is documented in two separate videos that are both in French, according to Vice.

In the first video, an officer can be seen leaning into the passenger side of the car to speak with a Black man. The officer can then be heard telling the passenger, another Black man later identified as Samuel, to exit the car — to which the man asks, “Why?”

“For obstruction and a police investigation,” the officer responded.

The confused passenger, who refused to give his last name for fear of further harassment, then engages in a back and forth with the officer, despite him refusing to offer an explanation for stopping the car. The frustrated officer then suddenly yanks Samuel out of the car by his locs and throws him to the ground.

The second video shows the man face down on the ground with two officers on top of him. At one point in the video, you can see an officer hitting the detained man in the head.

"But you're hitting me! You're holding me," Samuel said, according to CBC News.

"All I wanted to know is, why did I have to come out of the car," Samuel told CBC after the incident. "What's going to happen if I get out of the car? What are they going to do to me? Am I going to put my hands behind my back, get handcuffed and get killed or something?"

Samuel later said that the incident haunts him and that he is experiencing residual trauma.

"At night, when I'm alone, it's in my head. I can't sleep. I need some help," he said.

Samuel had taken classes that educate citizens on their rights and had even been awarded a certificate from Montreal police for his community involvement.

Quebec police denied that the traffic stop was related to race.

"The Laval police service does not have a racial profiling problem," police spokesperson Sgt. Geneviève Major said.

Major noted there had only been eight race-related complaints against the Laval police service in 2019, though the department responded to around 150,000 calls.

Major added that police stopped the car for erratic driving and the officers ordered Samuel to leave the car several times because they suspected drug usage. Major also disclosed that supervisors questioned the officers involved and found they were justified in their use of force.

Canines were called, and all persons in the vehicle were searched. No drugs were found, according to CBC.

Laval police do not track race-based data on police interactions and do not have any plans to do so now or in the future, Major added.

Quebec-Police

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