Two Favourite Topics, in One

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=0b8c2699-50b5-44e8-a000-b33f08051d69&k=52385

Our boys in red have run afoul of our aboriginal peoples, and possibly the press in this story of their latest adventure.

As the story is outlined a soccer victory led to the brutal and inconsiderate police pepper-spraying somebody's baby and a trip to the hospital for 30 or so formerly happy 'celebratees'.

Police claim that a patrol unit observed a pick-up truck containing a number of young people unsecured in the truck bed. leading a parade of vehicles through a Sunshine Coast BC neighbourhood. Their signals to the driver to stop were ignored, and according to the police the driver drove off the road to get around them and only came to a stop further down the road.

A video of the confrontation that ensued shows two officers talking to the driver of the truck, one Troy Mayers a member of the Sechelt First Nation. There are a number of people standing around watching or engaging the officers in conversation as they talk to the driver. At some point more police show up and the video shows the police then taking Mr. Mayers to a cruiser while the crowd chants "Bullshit! Bullshit". At one point it looks as if Mr. Mayers turns as police are trying to hand cuff him and then an individual wearing a red shirt runs up to the officers gesticulating and swearing. He gets a faceful of pepper spray and the incident degenerates from there, as the videographer seems to focus on the well-being of the interloper. There is a bit of a panic on the tape the cause of which is not evident.

The ensuing story indicates that a baby boy was also hit by the pepper spray and had to be taken to hospital. He might be the lad carried by a woman in the tape, who was fairly close to the cruiser when the red shirted-fellow appeared. A number of others also claim to have been sprayed.

It was also pointed out that this celebration was some sort of annual event for which police had previously closed roads to facilitate it.

Perhaps the RCMP will be more circumspect the next time they see what might appear to be native people having a good time and breaking the traffic laws.