Witnesses say woman dragged by Nunavik Police Service was having a seizure

WARNING: This story contains some distressing details.

A video circulating online of the arrest of a woman in Salluit, Que., is causing outrage. 

Witnesses to the incident on Thursday night say the woman was having a seizure while she was being dragged by police into custody. 

Nunavik Police Service deputy chief of administration, Shaun Longstreet, said the incident began with reports of a woman possibly driving while intoxicated. 

"Officers responded immediately to the call, and upon locating the vehicle, observed the driver exhibiting erratic and dangerous driving behaviour and attempting to evade police," Longstreet said in an email to CBC News. 

The 24-year-old woman was arrested without further injury, he said, and she was taken to the local health clinic to be checked. 

Witnesses who spoke with CBC are worried the officers did cause further harm.

Padli Ilisituk said he heard the sound of sirens and went out on his balcony.

He said he saw the police vehicle get in front of the woman's car, forcing her to swerve right into his fuel tank by his home.

"When I saw the smoke, I was shaking," he said. 

Ilisituk took out his phone and started filming. 

The video shows an officer pulling the woman out of her car's window and onto the ground. 

Witnesses can be heard yelling, "she's having a seizure" and asking the officers to not drag her body to their vehicle.

Ilisituk's mother, Uttuqi also said she saw the incident with the woman unfold.

"She is a small woman and it was just unnecessary how they didn't even try to take precaution as if they did not care how much they might be hurting her," she said.

Distrust with police 

Many questions CBC raised with the Nunavik Police Service, including about the woman's condition during the arrest, the use of Tasers, and the officers involved, went unanswered. 

CBC is choosing not to name the woman in the video. 

Ilisituk said there were many witnesses, but most, like himself, don't feel comfortable coming forward to police.

"I'm not going to make a statement because I believe it'll go against her," he said. 

He said he doesn't have much trust with the local police – even going so far to say he prefers the days of the Sûreté du Québec, which preceded the creation of the Nunavik Police Service in 1995, which was then known as the Kativik Regional Police Force. 

The 2019 Viens Commission report into the strained relationship between the Quebec Public Service and Indigenous communities in the province made 142 calls for action.

Thirteen were about police services, but as of October 2023, only five had been acted on.