A complaint has been launched against the Port Moody Police Department after a video was posted on YouTube of an officer throwing a man to the pavement during an arrest on the weekend.
Close to 10,000 people had viewed the clip as of Tuesday morning and police issued a statement saying the matter had been turned over to the Professional Standards Section for further investigation.
The video stems from an arrest that took place outside the Golden Spike Pub shortly after midnight last Saturday. Police were responding to reports that a man, Herbert Ramos, and his girlfriend, Tracey Ferris, were arguing with bar security staff.
"Despite multiple warnings, the male was uncooperative during the arrest and was subsequently taken to the ground," PMPD Const. Luke van Winkel said in a press release. "Both parties were arrested and taken to cells, where they were released when sober."
Because the incident is under review, police said they would not be commenting further.
But Devin Shepherd, a friend of Ramos and the man that shot the video, said the officer in the clip did not give any warning before throwing Ramos to the ground.
"The officer showed up and wasn't interested in resolving anything," he said. "It was just unnecessary force."
Shepherd said he and the couple were celebrating a friend's birthday at the pub when Ferris got into an argument with bar staff for refusing to show her identification after she paid the bill.
As the couple were leaving the pub, police showed up and Shepherd began filming. He later posted the clip to Facebook before a friend of his took the video and uploaded it to YouTube.
Ramos, who works for CTV News, told the television station that police never bothered to speak to him before taking him to the ground.
"I fall over and I could hear my own thud and I was out," he said, adding that he suffered soft-tissue damage during the arrest.
On Monday, the couple filed a formal complain with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
Cheryl Semenuik, a managing partner with the Golden Spike Pub, said she believed police acted appropriately.
She told The Tri-City News that both Ferris and Ramos had been acting belligerently toward staff and even tried to physically harm a security guard at the bar.
"The two of them were escorted out front and they were yelling and swearing and making a big scene," she said. "They were being very disruptive."
At one point, Semenuik said the pair told the bouncers that they worked in media and flashed their credentials, threatening that the staff involved would lose their jobs.
When the couple refused to leave the property, Semenuik had a staff member phone police.
"The door man didn't have to point out [to police] who they were," she said. "They were still standing there yelling when police arrived."
She also disputed Shepherd's assertions that officers did not give any warning before throwing Ramos to the ground. Semenuik said that officers attempted to speak with Ramos several times before he was thrown on the pavement.
- with files from CTV
