Retired RCMP officer alleges Longueuil police racially profiled him at bar

Maurice Carvery, a retired RCMP officer, is filing formal complaints against Longueuil police following an incident on July 24 at the Houston Bar & Grill, alleging racial profiling and misconduct.

Carvery says a Longueuil officer approached him in the bar's outdoor smoking area and asked for identification without cause. When Carvery asserted his rights, he was quickly surrounded by seven to ten officers. According to Carvery, a female officer pointed a taser at him despite his attempts to de-escalate. He says he was then grabbed by six officers, thrown to the ground, and physically assaulted — all while saying repeatedly "I'm not resisting."

Carvery was arrested for obstruction of justice related to a municipal smoking bylaw violation, though he says officers did not mention the bylaw until nearly 30 minutes after the initial approach. Jerell Smith, another retired RCMP officer who witnessed the incident, said officers later told Carvery he could have avoided the ticket if he had simply complied from the start — suggesting, both men believe, that officers invented the charge after realizing they had no grounds for the initial ID request.

Carvery also alleges evidence tampering. He says he recorded the arrest on his phone, but when he reviewed the footage later, sections were missing and timestamps did not match the time he began recording. "It was altered 100 per cent," he explained.

Carvery and the Red Coalition, a racial justice group now representing his case, are filing complaints with Quebec's police ethics commissioner and the human rights commission. The complaint also names Spectre, the renamed successor to the former Brigade d'intervention multidisciplinaire (BIM), which the Red Coalition believes the officers were connected to. Alain Babineau, the racial profiling and public safety director for the Red Coalition, said Spectre is "basically targeting blacks and racialized people under the guise of looking for gangsters."

Longueuil police service has not yet publicly responded to the allegations.