Months after Ottawa police beat a young Black man in a case of mistaken identity, CBC News has obtained internal reports from the force that shed light on the severity of the violence, and what officers say they were thinking as they pursued the wrong suspect and attacked him with a stun gun.
CBC obtained police files on the arrest of Kane Niyondagara, who was detained and released in February after being confused with a murder suspect, through a freedom of information request.
The files identify the suspect officers were actually looking for, reveal that a Starbucks employee had called police with a mistaken report, and provide more detail about the level of force police used — including a closed-fist strike that caused an officer’s hand to bleed.
The documents confirm the broad strokes of the account Nyondagara gave of the incident — that he was chased, tackled and struck — but also suggest officers feared for their safety as they confronted and chased the 27-year-old in Orléans on the morning of Feb. 16.
Police feared Nyondagara had a weapon
Six Ottawa Police Service (OPS) officers wrote reports on the incident. They confirm that police were responding to a call regarding a wanted murder suspect in connection to an earlier killing in Little Italy.
Though the name of the murder suspect is redacted from most of the documents, it is recorded as “Bakal” in one instance. Police were seeking a man by the name of Gibriil Bakal for a murder in Little Italy at that time.
Employees and patrons at the Starbucks on Innes Road had spotted someone they believed to be that suspect several times over the week of Feb. 10, and reported him to police. According to police, three separate members of the public believed that person to be the murder suspect.
One report names the person who called police on Feb. 16 to report another sighting. She gave a description of the suspect: a six-foot-tall Black male in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing a hoodie, sweatpants and a plaid jacket.
Police rushed to the scene and confronted Niyondagara, who they believed was Bakal, after he left the Starbucks. They say he ignored commands and repeatedly moved his hands toward his waist. Some officers said Niyondagara appeared to be scoffing or smirking.
Const. Sarah Armstrong said she drew her Taser and told Niyondagara to keep his hands up and get on his knees, but he “deliberately shoved his hands down the front of his waistband.”
She said she feared he might be reaching for a weapon. At that point, she said she turned her Taser on and pointed it at his chest.
Niyondagara previously told CBC that he dropped his hands and shrugged at one point in the encounter, as if to ask why they were confronting him.
At roughly the same time, Const. Darren Cousineau said he drew his service pistol, as he knew a gun was still outstanding from the Little Italy shooting.
“Police, don’t move!” he shouted, according to his report, which said Niyondagara then “smirked and gave a partial chuckle.”
He said Niyondagara looked like he was about to run. Cousineau said he stepped toward him and told him he was being detained, but at that point Niyondagara took off running eastbound along Innes Road.
Officers issued ‘clear and concise commands’
Const. Luc Durocher chased the suspect in his police cruiser and tried to cut him off, according to his report, but the vehicle slid on the snow and ice and collided with a large Baskin Robbins billboard.
Niyondagara kept running. Durocher caught up to him. In his report, he noted that the suspect they were looking for was considered armed and dangerous.
“I got out of my cruiser and attempted to make a gunpoint arrest,” he wrote. “As I pointed my firearm at the subject male, I gave clear and concise commands to him that he was under arrest for murder, to put his hands up and to get down on the ground.”
But Niyondagara took off running again. He told CBC previously that he was disoriented, fearful of having his body smashed into the concrete, and was acting on an instinct to run home.
Const. Marenda McCucheon said she fired twice from her Taser “as I was still concerned for this male having a firearm and was now running towards people in vehicles.”
She did not believe the conducted energy weapon made proper contact with his body, and noted his behaviour was unchanged. He kept running.
Punch caused officer’s hand to bleed
Police caught up with Niyondagara on Prestwick Drive. Const. Martin Corbeil said he drew his firearm, but Niyondagara “had no reaction whatsoever and ignored me completely.”
Corbeil said he holstered his weapon, ran up to Niyondagara and tackled him to the ground, losing his hat and prescription glasses during the takedown, which took place just a few blocks from Niyondagara’s home.
“I struggled to gain control of the suspect’s arms to handcuff him as he was tensing up, keeping his arms under his chest, and trying to reach to his waistband,” he wrote.
“The suspect continued to resist arrest, prompting me to use reasonable force to effect his arrest. As such, I struck the right side of the suspect’s face once with a closed fist. This caused my right hand to bleed. I also delivered 2-3 knee strikes.”
In his report, Durocher agreed that Niyondagara was resisting. He said that he gave Niyondagara “a couple knee strikes to gain compliance.”
McCucheon also wrote that Niyondagara was resisting. She said she took out her baton but did not use it, and instead kneeled on Niyondagara’s shoulder blade. Cousineau said he “took control of his shoulders by applying moderate pressure to prevent him from rolling over.”
Niyondagara previously told CBC that he was not resisting but was “just waiting for the handcuffs,” while an eyewitness said he “didn’t really seem to be struggling at all.”
Kane Niyondagara, who is Black, said he was shocked with a stun gun, pinned down, struck in the face and handcuffed before police realized their mistake. Parts of the action were captured on video by a bystander.
The officers provide essentially the same account of what happened next. They handcuffed Niyondagara and put him in a police cruiser, where he identified himself as Kane Niyondagara. They checked his ID and compared him to a picture of Bakal.
The officers then realized they had the wrong man.
“When asked why he fled from police, he stated he got scared and … wanted to go home,” said Durocher’s report
Niyondagara said the encounter was emotionally scarring. He said he felt disrespected by his treatment.
His mother was outraged to find out about the beating. She said police routinely brutalize people in the family’s home country of Burundi, so it’s understandable that her son would run when confronted by officers.
The incident was also widely condemned by police critics and various Black community leaders in Ottawa. Martine-Rita Sabushimike, president of l’Alliance des Burundais du Canada, said her community was traumatized by what happened to Niyondagara.
Black people make up 26 per cent of those against whom police use force, according to OPS data, even though only eight per cent of the city’s population is Black.
Niyondagara’s family referred questions about the police reports to their lawyer, who did not provide comment to CBC’s questions before deadline.