Dozens of officers armed to the teeth including with assault rifles surround south shore house.
The youth was on his way to school.
Egbert Gaye
When it comes to Black people, the extent of police abuse is boundless: ask Malik Spaulding-Smith and his family.
Today, the 20-year-old is still shaken by a run-in he had with them.
He told The CONTACT that after having almost a dozen officers with guns pointed at him together with an assault rifle covering his every move followed by a nine-hour detention in a holding cell, his mind will never be the same.
It has been close to a week since it happened and he is unable to eat or sleep properly.
“I’m still not sure how to deal with it. I know things are not right because I’m already small and I’m losing a lot of weight, but I can’t seem to be able to do anything about it.”
Malik’s trauma began on the morning of June 21, when the St. Constant resident was in his car not far from home, just chilling, talking on the phone and having a smoke. You see, as a 20-year-old he still was not comfortable with his mom seeing him smoke. She and the remainder of the family were out at his younger brother’s graduation ceremonies.
“I was just there when I noticed this guy coming from his house and bringing out some garbage. He came up to the car and asked in French if I was waiting for Julienne. I told him I didn’t know who Julienne was. His face seemed to change.”
Spaulding-Smith said the interaction was a bit weird, so he decided to go home.
As it was still a bit early for school he played a game of NBA2K17 before heading out the house at 10:45 AM.
“As I stepped out the house, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were about 12 police cars outside my door then I heard: ‘freeze.’”
Malik says his mind ran on all the videos he had been seeing about police shooting Black men in the States, so he decided to do everything that he was told.
“I lay on the ground. They handcuffed me. Then they dragged me up, really rough, before they placed me in the car. The two women officers were really a bit aggressive.”
“They said they were arresting me for intimidation and possession of a firearm. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”
Malik was taken to the police station where he says he was placed in a holding cell.
“It was a bit cold in there so they gave me a blanket, but ten minutes later they came and took away the blanket.”
*** **** ****
It was about 11:15 AM when Malik’s mom, Suzette, was making her way home from her younger son’s graduation, but was shocked to see her street filled with police cars and completely blocked off on both ends. She also noticed that two cars were at the front of her house which was cordoned off with police tapes.
Panicking, she kept calling Malik. No answer on three occasions.
She asked the officer at the corner what was going on at her house? He asked to see her ID and told her to give them the keys to her outside cabin. She gave it to them.
Then one of the officers told her that her son Malik has fired a gun from his car outside the house of an off-duty officer.
“Me and my fiancé were shocked. We said it couldn’t be Malik.”
She tried to get more information but they told her to go to the police station, where she remained not knowing where her son was or what he was charged with for hours.
She left the station just before 2 PM to pick up her younger son as he came home from school. When she got home, she tried to go into her yard but was driven away by an officer, who told her that her house was “a crime scene.”
They were left to sit in the car outside the house.
At about 3 PM, their next-door neighbor left his house keys with Suzette and her family, if they wanted to use the bathroom or eat whatever was in his fridge.
Their ordeal finally came to an end around 8 PM when Suzette saw the officers cutting the tape from in front of her house and she received a call from Malik saying that he was released and two detectives were bringing him home.
Malik told The CONTACT in the more than eight hours that he was at the station, his hands and face were swabbed, but he was never questioned or anything.
Suzette says she later learned that what the police thought were gunshots by her son was indeed a Hydro Quebec transformer that exploded in the area.
They are talking to their lawyers.
