NDG man accuses Montreal police of racial profiling over repeated run-ins

CTV Montreal: Police accused of profiling An NDG man says police are profiling him after being repeatedly pulled over several months.

An NDG man is filing a police ethics complaint in another case of alleged racial profiling by Montreal police.

Kenrick McRae has had three run-ins within six months and said he feels harassed and targeted by police because he is black.

The latest incident occurred last Friday, when he said he was driving his girlfriend to work in LaSalle. Police pulled his Mercedes over, and claimed he did not have a licence plate. McRae said he did in fact have a well-attached licence plate, and took a picture of that immediately after the incident.

Police ultimately let him go without a ticket.

McRae said he feels he is being harassed by police and simply wants an explanation.

“This has been happening over and over again. It seems like nothing changes. I just want the chief to explain why he’s allowing his ranks to racial profile black men driving,” he said.

In February, McRae said he was arrested and handcuffed in March for recording when he was stopped while driving his Mercedes. Those officers erased the video recording.

Last week, three days before his was stopped in LaSalle, McRae was pulled over by police in NDG.

The Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations is helping McRae file the complaint and said it expects to hear back within the next month.

CRARR spokesperson Fo Niemi said McRae's complaint is illustrative of a larger problem within the SPVM.

"We think it's a typical case of driving while black, basically a black man driving a Mercedez," he said. "Why is this allowed to happen over and over in this city? Is there a marching order from the top to do this systematically to black drivers in cars or it an example of implicit racial bias among officers not trained to recognize they have bias?"

A spokesperson for the SPVM said they were unable to comment at this time.