Police in Montreal handcuff innocent Black man, had no key to release him

Picture Courtesy: Twitter

Two police officers handcuffed a Black man at a Montreal shopping district Thursday while they investigated him for car theft. However, once they determined he was in fact the car's owner, they couldn't release him because they had no keys for the cuffs.

Local patrolling officers were called at at Marché Central to free the man and now a video of the incident is circulating online. The six-minute video appears to show the officers trying to calm the unidentified man, who is upset over being handcuffed despite his innocence.

The video shows the innocent man asking the police if a white man would have been treated the same way. The Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) says the incident was part of an effort to crack down on car theft and the plainclothes officers were auto-theft investigators.

In an email to CBC, SPVM's communication team said, “This citizen was then temporarily detained for investigation purposes by the two police officers. The citizen was released unconditionally and without charges once the checks were completed.”