Red Coalition filing complaint against Terrebonne police, claim Black man was racially profiled

By CityNews Staff Posted Dec 7, 2022, 12:11PM EST.

The Red Coalition held a press conference Wednesday on claims that Hally Seme, a Black man from Terrebonne, northeast of Montreal, was pulled over by Terrebonne police without cause.
In a statement, the Red Coalition said that Seme noticed that he was being followed by a patrol car for some time as he was heading home from Montreal on Highway 25. They say, after exiting near Chemin Gascon and Moody, stopping correctly at a stop sign and signaling to turn left, Terrebonne police pulled him over.
Seme recorded the interaction with the officer. In the video Seme asks the officer why he was pulled over, to which the officer responded by saying, “Because we are checking the validity of your documents.”
Seme then went on to ask the officer about the Quebec Superior Court’s decision on Oct. 25. which prevents police from pulling over drivers without reason at which point the officer said, “that the law wasn’t passed yet,” and that she also had the right to check his sobriety.
Seme asks the officer “are you saying I look drunk right now?” and she responds, “Yes, I checked now and yes, plus you didn’t make a proper stop there.” The policewoman ends by saying: “you want reasons, we will give you some.”
Seme did get a ticket of $173.00 for having insurance that was expired. The Red Coalition stating: “Mr. Seme later realized that he had given the document which had expired on October 28, 2022 to the policewoman, when he had the new certificate in his glove box. Although Mr. Seme tried to explain his mistake to the policewoman, she did not want to hear him and left the scene.”
The Red Coalition also states “Mr. Seme was neither subjected to a sobriety test nor received a ticket for not stopping completely at a stop sign.” Adding he has mandated the Red Coalition, which will file a police ethics complaint against the officer in question and the Terrebonne police director.
“The case of Mr. Seme is not unique to what Black people suffer from the police in Terrebonne. The Coalition is also aware of ongoing cases before the Superior Court of Quebec as well as other cases and anecdotal information, which leads us to believe that the problem is systemic in nature.
“The Red Coalition believes that the situation in Terrebonne is widespread and that there is a need for a more systemic investigation into the issue of racial profiling by the Service de police intermunicipal de Terrebonne, Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines and Bois-des-Plaines. Filion. The Red Coalition will therefore also file a police ethics complaint against Joël Lamarche as Director of the Intermunicipal Police Service of Terrebonne, Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines and Bois-des-Filion.”
In a statement to CityNews by email, Terrebonne police said they would not comment the situation. Adding “When a citizen is unsatisfied with the work of a police officer, we always refer him to the Commissaire à la Déontologie policière du Québec. It is the appropriate way to file a complaint against a police officer.”