Police officers were forced to apologize after wrongly detaining a senior Black judge while looking for an assault suspect.
The incident took place at Stanley Park, Vancouver, where 81-year-old judge Selwyn Romilly was approached and handcuffed by cops who were reportedly on the hunt for a male assault suspect in his 40s.
As the cops insisted, Romilly, who made history by becoming the first African-American judge at the Supreme Court in British Columbia, matched the suspect’s appearance.
According to the 81-year-old, he was left embarrassed after cops handcuffed him in front of other park visitors for one minute.
“They said they got a report and I fit the description of a person. Without much ado, they told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back and put me in handcuffs,” he said in an interview with CBC.
In another interview, Romilly also recalled telling the officers that he’s a judge when they proceeded by handcuffing him.
“I told them I was a retired Supreme Court judge. I don’t know whether that made them have second thoughts,” Romilly told The Vancouver Sun.
Since the incident, Romilly confirmed he will not be filing a complaint against the police, whereas two senior officers reached out to him to apologize for the mistake.
“I hate to say that this is a case where I was targeted because I was walking while black, but you kind of wonder why those handcuffs were placed on me at such an early stage,” the renowned judge added in his interview with CBC.
As he also suggested, the police should be more “vigilant” when training new officers on how to approach and deal with people from minorities.
What are your thoughts on this matter? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your family and friends. For more news and stories, follow us on Facebook!