Ottawa police chief addresses mistaken arrest of Orleans man

Police chief addresses mistaken arrest Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs is expressing 'deep regret' for a violent arrest of the wrong man. CTV's Jackie Perez reports.

It's been more than a month since an Orleans man was chased, shocked with a stun gun and beaten by Ottawa police officers in a case of mistaken identity.

Ahead of Monday's Ottawa Police Board Services Board meeting, Chief Eric Stubbs addressed the incident, citing 'deep regret'.

"Look there's no doubt this was an unfortunate set of circumstances where an innocent man was arrested," Stubbs said. "Our members thought they were confronting a homicide suspect they thought was armed and dangerous... We deeply regret this happened to Mr. Niyondagara."

Last week, CTV Ottawa spoke to 27-year-old Kane Niyondagara, who says he was chased, Tasered and violently arrested in February after being mistakenly identified as a wanted homicide suspect.

"The officer tackled me on the ground, he punched me on the right side of the eye and he also hit me on my body," he told CTV on March 19.

"There's no doubt we are extremely concerned that we had arrested someone who was not who we thought it was and we want to have a discussion on that," said Stubbs.

In the past, the Ottawa Police Service has said it is committed to improving relations with Black, Indigenous and racialized groups, but Robin Browne with advocacy group 613/819 Black Hub says it's not enough.

"The Ottawa police have to come up with a plan to reduce the disproportionate use of force against brown and Middle Eastern people," he said.

Data released by the Ottawa Police Service reveals Black and Middle Eastern residents were over-represented in police use of force incidents over the general population.

In 2022, officers used force against 284 people, with Black residents making up 25 percent of those incidents, despite representing only eight percent of Ottawa's population.

"We have made efforts to reach out in the past week and are shifting focus with his legal team," said Stubbs. "To the Burundi community, we have work to do to build a positive relationship to build more trust within the community."

Niyondagara is still waiting for an apology and for a police response on a complaint he filed in early March. CTV News has learned he is now being represented by a lawyer who is in the early stages of discussion with the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service.

"The disturbing aspect of this event is that someone from the public made a false report to the Ottawa Police, which is suggestive of an endemic racial bias against visible minorities," said lawyer Anthony L.C. Mineault in an email to CTV News. "This person made a false report that an alleged person wanted for murder was exposing themselves in a quite public setting and un-masked fashion and this call should have been the subject of some form of validation before it was acted upon."