Was he the victim of racial profiling?

A Vancouver man is reeling after a series of interactions with police, including one that left him unconscious, leading him to believe he is the repeated victim of racial profiling. Bernard Yankson, 33, an instructor with the Vancouver Film School, said he has been approached by officers from the Vancouver Police Department on five different occasions, each ending in his release with no charges pressed. In two instances, Yankson said he was harassed and treated with unnecessary force and a lack of dignity.

Yankson, a Canadian-Ghanaian, took his grievances to the B.C. human rights tribunal but following the most recent encounter with VPD two weeks ago, he said he has since withdrawn his case because he intends to sue.

His decision is based on a bizarre and, as Yankson describes, “terrifying and upsetting” encounter with authorities and a racist stranger. On June 26, Yankson was standing on the front lawn of a friend’s home at 11th Avenue near Commercial Drive when a stranger approached him.

“You don’t belong here,” them man allegedly told Yankson. “You’re not welcome here and you should leave.”

According to Yankson and three witness statements, the man proceeded to telephone authorities and reported a robbery by a young black man, pointing the blame at Yankson.

“The information that he was relaying to police regarding the reality of the situation was not accurate,” Ceone Veldman wrote in her statement.

“He was telling the police that there was a person who did not belong who was following people around.”

“We heard the old man give a description of Bernard,” wrote a second witness, Gisela Schulz, noting, “the situation was absurd … I thought, surely the police will not come and respond to such a strange call.”

As Yankson and a friend continued to walk east toward Commercial Drive, the man followed them while still talking on his cell.

Less than 10 minutes later, a VPD vehicle drove onto the street.

Yankson said he was grateful to see the cruiser.
“Thank God you’re here,” he said to explain his initial relief. “This guy has been harassing me.”
Instead, Yankson said he was treated as if he were a threat. He walked toward the vehicle in anticipation of police assistance. The man who made the initial phone call stood nearby.

According to Ashley Carr’s witness statement, an officer got out of the car, took Yankson by the arm and also instructed him to stop resisting.

“My friend, in shock, was asking the officer to stop and let him talk,” wrote Carr.

Yankson was pushed against the back end of the vehicle and was handcuffed. His head contacted the trunk with such force that he fell unconscious.

VPD spokeswoman Constable Jana McGuinness could not comment on the specifics of the incident, but did say the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner received a formal complaint from Yankson yesterday, Friday, July 10.

“We welcome any complaint that comes through our professional standards investigation so we’re aware of it and can treat it seriously,” she said.
Yankson and those who witnessed this unexpected series of events, however, will not soon shake their distrust and discomfort.

“It’s kind of rocked my own world,” said Ceone Veldman, who watched Yankson unravel into disorientation, suspicion and anxiety following the stranger’s unfounded accusations and subsequent police aggression.

“I think there were a huge series of assumptions made by a number of individuals that lead to someone being assaulted,” she said. “As assumption made that a dark-skinned man is somehow a threat to the safety and security of the neighborhood—it is so wrong. So incredibly wrong.”

He claims this is the fifth time police have stopped him, asked for identification and then moved on.

The event that prompted Yankson’s initial case with the human rights tribunal occurred in April of last year.

Yankson was walking east on Hastings Street with an armload of reusable plastic containers. As he crossed Commercial Drive just before noon, he said an officer in a parked police cruiser waved him over. Yankson hesitated, but complied and was told the officers were looking for an impoverished black man who had allegedly assaulted a woman.

“Are you arresting me?” asked Yankson. The answer was no, and he began to walk away.
What happened next profoundly disturbed him.

He was not arrested or charged, but Yankson was handcuffed and searched. He said he lay on the sidewalk for close to 30 minutes while the officers went through his possessions and ran an I.D. check.

He was humiliated.

“People were watching, walking around me on the sidewalk. I was on the ground with my hands behind my back and my things scattered,” he said.

He later learned the police had been looking for a man whose ethnicity was described as black. This further upset Yankson.

“Ethnicity cannot be described as a colour,” he said.

Photo of Yankson immediately following the most recent incident by Ceone Veldman