Charges have been dropped against an Alberta First Nations chief, the Global News reported, citing an Alberta Justice spokeswoman. Allan Adam was previously accused of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. The chief claimed that excessive force was used during the arrest, which occurred on 10 March. The development comes after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) released dashcam footage earlier this month that recorded the events preceding the arrest.
The beginning of the almost 12-minute video shows Allan Adam shouting profanities at a police officer, who approached the chief and his family over an expired license plate. "I’m tired of being harassed by the RCMP", the chief shouted. After arguing for several minutes, Adam got out of his car and took off his jacket as if bracing for a fight and continued to shout profanities at the officer. Several moments later, he got in the car and his wife wanted to follow suit when the officer grabbed her by the hand.
This prompted another verbal altercation on the part of the chief. "Hey! Leave my wife alone! You come for me", Allan Adam said, before swatting the officer’s hands from his wife. After another minute of arguing, the police officer tried to arrest the chief. Another law enforcement officer ran at him and pushed the chief to the ground. As a result of the arrest, Allan Adam suffered lacerations to his face and bruising.
Following the arrest, the RCMP disputed the chief’s claim that excessive force was used, calling the actions of the officers "reasonable". But the release of the dashcam footage prompted widespread criticism from the public and politicians, including Prime Minister Trudeau, who called the incident shocking and called for an independent investigation.
The case of Chief Allan Adam received additional attention in Canada following massive protests against racial discrimination and police brutality in the United States and across the world, which were sparked by the death of an unarmed African-American man at the hands of a white police officer in the US city of Minneapolis.
