Man’s arrest by Port Moody, B.C., police caught on video was unlawful: lawyer

VANCOUVER – The lawyer for a man caught on video being thrown to the ground by a Port Moody, B.C., police officer says the arrest was unlawful and is part of a disturbing trend of police turning on the victim.

Matthew Nathanson says his clients — Herbert Ramos and Tracey Ferris — have filed a complaint with the B.C. Police Complaint Commissioner and are demanding an apology for the arrest and mistreatment while in jail.

An 18-second video of the arrest last Sunday outside the Golden Spike Pub has been posted on the Internet and shows Ramos being grabbed around the neck by an officer and hurled to the ground.

Nathanson says that the couple’s constitutional rights’ were denied, as neither Ramos nor Ferris were told the reason for their arrest, and they were not provided access to counsel.

He also accuses the Port Moody police making a false statements about what happened in order to cover up the officer’s mistake.

Nathanson compared the arrest involving his client with the incident at Vancouver’s airport where Robert Dziekanski died, saying both cases involved officers who denied misconduct despite video disputing their claims.