The public arrest of 22-year-old Irnes Zeljkovic by six police officers at the University of Western Ontario Social Sciences building on October 14 brings to the fore concerns over what constitutes excessive force by police. As of this writing, a crude cell phone video of the incident shown on YouTube has been viewed about 350,000 times. The video shows Zeljkovic pinned to the ground and beaten by the officers from both city and campus police forces. Police aggressively kneed Zeljikovic in the torso five times, hit him in the back with a baton six times, and punched him over 25 times, reports
globalnational.com.
One can understand that it may have taken six officers to forcibly arrest a six-foot-two man of over 200 pounds. But once Zeljkovic was on the ground, the kneeing, hitting, and punching were not necessary steps for the officers to take.
The Western student may have been hard to handle, but campus police took it too far. Excessive force (and its being caught on camera) is not new in the world of policing. Many remember Robert Dziekanski’s case in the Vancouver International Airport, exactly two years before the date of Zeljkovic’s incident. Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died after police repeatedly tasered him in the airport lounge. Another incident that comes to mind is the case of 18-year-old Freddy Villanueva who was shot by police in a north Montreal parking lot on August 9, 2008. Police claimed they were being attacked by a group of youths, but eyewitness accounts claim that was not the case.
Fortunately for Zeljkovic, his run-in with the police did not result in death, though he did have an injured leg and was bleeding enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. In both cases, authorities have stated that the limited video cannot clearly show what truly happened, and that the public should not jump to conclusions. After viewing the video, however, only one conclusion can be reached: a defenseless student on the ground being beaten by six officers. It is true that you can’t see what happened prior to the beating, but it is in a sense irrelevant. Zeljkovic was not armed, and was no longer a threat to anyone.
He may have been belligerent and difficult to deal with, but the police still went too far. Zeljkovic was not putting the officers in danger, and further, arresting him served no interest to public safety. Simply escorting him out of the building, off campus, and perhaps even taking him home could have easily resolved the issue. Any further action could have been taken up through the UWO faculty. It clearly appears that police crossed the threshold, and did indeed use excessive force.
There are currently plans by UWO and the London Police Service to investigate this incident further, although no charges will likely be laid against the officers involved. Unfortunately, the incident will most likely be written off as an unruly student being taken down by officers who were simply doing their job.
