A civilian's complaint

The following is a statement prepared by Juan Melendez after filing a complaint of assault by members of the Calgary Police Service to its complaints department. This statement was requested by the Calgary Police Service and describes the incident of August 17th, 2000.

My name is Juan Domingo Melendez, and I was born in El Salvador 37 years ago. I have been living in Canada since 1989 and moved to Calgary, Alberta, in 1996. I am a Canadian citizen.

On August 17, 2000, at around 10.00 p.m. I was heading home from SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) where I am studying in the Electrical Engineering Program.

As I walked home, I reached 3rd Street S.E. between 10th and 11th Avenue on the west side of the street, which is two blocks away from where I live. At this point, despite the poor lighting there, I saw a man and a woman standing on the same sidewalk where I was walking, in civilian clothing, about 10 metres ahead of me. There was a late model car parked with a right door opened beside them. Between the two individuals and I there was also a white vehicle parked in a back alley with its front jutting out and almost covering the whole the sidewalk.

This forced me to go around the front of the vehicle. As I walked around it I tripped, and when I almost fell to the ground, one of my knees made contact with the bumper of the above mentioned vehicle. I continued my walk, but I noticed that the woman (above-mentioned) was talking to the man (also above-mentioned) and both stepped back. As I was passing by in front of them, the man jumped over me and without any warning grabbed my left arm trying to knock me down. At first I thought that they were thieves and were trying to rob me. I asked them what was the problem. I was afraid and tried to release my arm from the hands of my aggressor and made an attempt to escape. I was doing this when a group of about 10 or more police officers showed up from all directions and surrounded me. I remember saying to them: "What is happening? I haven't done anything wrong."

They did not answer me or talk to me whatsoever nor did they say why this was being done to me. Nothing. Several of them grabbed several parts of my body including my backpack with my books from school and knocked me to the ground. In a matter of seconds I was face down on the ground, I was handcuffed and was being kicked. I assumed by now that the man and the woman in plain clothes were also police. The man in plain clothes grabbed me by the hair and smashed my head against the sidewalk. He also grabbed me around the neck and put his two hands around my throat and chocked me. I could hear the other cops around me laughing. I felt that I was losing consciousness when I heard a cop tell the one chocking me to stop because I was dead. He released me for a brief moment and I tried to scream and ask for help, but I couldn't do it because my throat was blocked. I also couldn't breath. He grabbed my throat to choke me again.

After all of this I was lying on the sidewalk, I could not move because of the pain the beating had caused me, they yelled at me to stand up and I told them that I could not, then they helped me to stand up.

I was taken to a back ally where a van was parked, I was almost unconscious but I could recognize the woman in civilian clothes and a police officer in uniform. When we got to the back of the van, the cop in uniform opened both back doors of the van, then he shut off his radio communication on his shoulder and grabbed me by my hair with one hand and with the closed fist of the other he started beating my face. I could not speak and barely could stand on my feet, but heard him telling me "fucking Native". The woman was standing about 2 metres away from us, I could see her laughing. After beating me up he told me that I was under arrest for "assaulting a police officer". He then started asking me my name and when he saw that I had difficulty to speak because of the pain in my throat, he told me that I had better spell my name well or he was going to give me another beating. After taking all the information from me, a group of cops in uniform gathered around the back of the van and made fun of my face that was bleeding.

I was put inside the van and could see that the cop who had been beating me on my face was the driver of the van, the woman in plain clothes was with him as a passenger. After a while we arrived to another back ally behind the Police Station on 7th Avenue S.E., there was poor lighting over there. The cop opened the back door of the van and said to me "get down piece of shit". As I got down from the van he grabbed me again by the hair and with the closed fist of his other hand he started beating me up again as he did before at the place of my arrest. I told him that I was a human being and he was beating me to death and he told me that it was exactly what he wanted (to kill me), the woman in plain clothes was standing around as before, laughing, as he was beating me up, then he led me to the back door of the building. Before getting inside the building, he smashed my head against a wall and told me sarcastically "watch your step", and in the elevator he smashed my head against the wall again, telling me that I could not see his face.

When we were at the Police Station, my captor ordered me to sit down on a metal bench and he stood on my right side telling me softly that I was a stupid man. I said nothing I just was looking at the floor, my head was spinning then he asked me to say something and I told him that beating up a man while he is handcuffed is not for a man but for an animal, he looked at the woman in plain clothes who was standing on my left side and they smiled at each other. Some cops passing by made fun of my bleeding face saying that I had fallen hard on the ground.

I was taken to a window to leave all my belongings there, the cop unhandcuffed my left hand and when I asked him to help me take my key out of my pocket because I could not move my arms, he told me to put my hands up against the window, and spread my legs wide open. He then started to twist my right hand with the hand cuff already on it, it was a painful experience because they had kicked my hand before when I was arrested. After this he took my key out of my pocket. When a policewoman was packing my belongings she asked me if a pen that was on the table was mine. I said "yes" because I had a pen of the same kind when I was arrested. In that moment a police officer came to pick up the pen and the cop who was still holding my right hand with the handcuff told the woman at the window "this guy never learns", meaning that I was a thief and that even though they had beaten me up, I was still trying to steal the pen from the police officer. He also told her to be really careful with me in the cell. She responded sarcastically "Oh for sure".

Somebody there told the cop that I had to be seen by a paramedic, when the paramedic asked me what happened I told him that I had been beaten by the police and especially the cop escorting me. The cop told the paramedic that I was a liar and he said that his function was to give me medical attention not to discuss arguments. He took my blood pressure and told me that it was too high, then he told the cop that I needed medical attention at a hospital because I may have broken bones in my face and arms. I was taken outside the paramedic's office and when I saw a sergeant passing by I asked him if I could use the telephone. He said "of course" and guided me to a telephone booth. (I had asked my captor before and he had said no). When I had the chance to call, I told the friends where I live that I had been arrested and beaten by police and that if anything else happens from then on the police were responsible. My friend told me that he had seen the beating when he was driving home with his wife and sons and could never have imagined it was me.

I was taken to Foothills Hospital by the same cop who had beaten me up before, he continued punching me all the way to the van. Once in the van I remember he was driving around and around until he stopped at a parking lot. It was dark, I could see a white sport utility truck beside the van where I was. He shut off the engine and got down from the van and started talking very quietly with the driver of the other vehicle. After a while he drove me to Foothills Hospital and when I got out of the van he told me that no matter what my feelings where against police, I didn't have to say that I was beaten by cops, I said OK. Just in front of an automatic door at the emergency unit he reminded me of the same. Then I told him that I was not afraid any more that I had worked there (at the hospital) for the last 3 years and besides that, my friends already knew what was going on.

When the doctor at the ICC unit in Foothills Hospital asked me what had happened with my face, if it was a car accident or what, I told him that the police had beaten me up, he smiled and asked me, "And are you going to tell me that you are innocent?" and I said "even if you don't believe me I am innocent"; the cop that was in the same room told him it was not true, that people like me already hate police, the doctor changed the conversation and told me that he was sending me to the x-ray unit to check all the parts of my body where I had been beaten.

When I returned to the ICC Unit, the doctor informed me that I didn't have any broken bones in my body and asked me how I was feeling. I told him that I was feeling very bad, my whole body was in pain, then he said that he was going to send me home, and a nurse told me to wash my face with water, in spite of the fact that I really needed medical attention. I asked the doctor if I could use a telephone and he told me that the use of a telephone depended on the cop, who immediately said no.

I knew a nurse who was working there that night and I asked her in Spanish if I could use a telephone. She told me that of course I could use a telephone. She then asked me what had happened. I explained to her that I had been beaten up by the police and then, ironically, charged with assaulting them. She made no comments, she got me a telephone, gave me a shot to prevent tetanus and gave me pain killers for my pain and pills for my high blood pressure. Before leaving the hospital, this nurse gave me a bag of ice to put on my face, but that was later thrown away by the cop who was escorting me.

When we arrived at the Police Station I was put in a cell and when I was there a sergeant came to talk to me and told me that some friends were looking for me. Then he asked what had happened. I told him part of the story and mentioned the woman in plain clothes who was with the police who was beating me up. He told me that she was a police officer from Vancouver and that when an investigation started she would be questioned.

Some time later they took me out of the cell and to the office where I was told that I have to sign the charges in order for them to release me. They asked me if I would like to be released, I said "yes", but I explained to them that I haven't done any of the things that they were accusing me of.

I really needed to be released because my condition was critical. I needed to see a doctor and I was confused and scared so I signed the charges even knowing I was completely innocent. I was released at around 5.00 a.m. August 18, 2000. 

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