Edmonton Police Service (EPS) says it does not approve or train officers to place a knee on the neck of a community member that’s being arrested. This response came after Sifa Ngeze shared a video of the 2018 arrest of her husband, Jean-Claude Rukundo.
The 14 seconds video posted on June 2, 2020, showed one of the officers using his curved ankle to keep Jean-Claude in place, his knee rest on his back, while another officer places a handcuffs on his wrist, his hands turned backwards, while he lies on the grass, face down.
In a Zoom media conference today, June 3, 2020, Staff Sgt. Terry Langley of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Training Unit who has been training Edmonton officers for over 20 years, said no officer starts their shift with the desire to use force.
The police trainer added that force is only used as a last option and specifically using a knee on the neck of a community member, in this case Jean-Claude, being arrested was only accidental and was adjusted after the officer realized it.
“…We do not target the head and the neck. We only target the shoulder, the shoulder blade, and the back. We never put all of our weight on the subject…,” Staff Sgt. Langley explained during the press conference.
This incidence took place in 2018 when Sifa was involved in a car accident and Jean-Claude went to the scene to check on her. The situation escalated and let to Jean-Claude’s arrest as pictured.
EPS has not released the full video but insist that excessive force was not used in the arrest. The Staff Sgt. will go on to add during the interview that over 260,000 cases of arrest were made in Edmonton and only in less than 1% of the cases was force used with less instances of injuries.
Unfortunately, Jean-Claude’s case is one of them, inspiring a reaffirmation in the most divine as Sifa writes on her Facebook post, “…My only trust is in God my saviour…”
Well Diversity Magazine wanted to know what the take home lessons are for the EPS, especially from the bubbling George Floyd case – the unarmed BLACK man murderd with the knees of a police officer in the US city of Minneapolis.
On a happy note, it seems EPS has been taking notes from the George Floyd case. The EPS veteran trainer said that they have had numerous discussions and review training lesson plans as a result of the community’s negative response to such a use of force in the George Floyd case.
Should you missed our Diversity Flash for June 4, please watch here.
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