A community health worker who was detained near the scene of a fatal stabbing last week says he believes he might have been a victim of racial profiling.
Ray Samakese was near his workplace at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority building Thursday afternoon when city police detained him in connection with a stabbing that happened a few hours earlier.
Samakese said he and some colleagues who were doing outreach work had stopped to grab a coffee before returning to their office, on Main Street at Logan Avenue, when they saw heavy police presence in the area. He said a community member he’d worked with told him somebody had been assaulted.
“We decided to walk a little closer to the scene to maybe see if … we were familiar with any folks that were being detained or whatever the case may be,” Samakese said Tuesday.
“As we were crossing the street …, police approached me and immediately asked me to empty my pockets as they detained me, and said that I’d been — was being arrested for homicide.”
Samakese shrugged as a group of Winnipeg police officers escorted him toward cruisers parked near his workplace at the health authority building shortly before 3 p.m. He was holding a disposable cup in one hand.
“They said he was a suspect in the stabbing,” someone could be heard saying as two officers handcuffed him.
Winnipegger not involved in killing handcuffed near scene
“What? He works upstairs with us,” another person said.
Winnipeg police announced Tuesday that David Bryan Siemens, 37, has been charged with manslaughter in the stabbing of 55-year-old Ronald Findlay, who died in hospital.
Major crimes investigators arrested Siemens around 11:30 a.m. Monday while they were in the area of the homicide on an unrelated matter, police said.
Man dead after unprovoked stabbing near downtown Winnipeg Thursday, police say
Man accused of unprovoked fatal stabbing downtown charged with manslaughter
Samakese said officers told him he was being detained because he matched the suspect’s description.
“My colleagues were … there to vouch for me and, you know, explain my whereabouts and things. They still detained me,” he said.
“Where did they get their initial information from to begin with? [Was it] because I was a big Native fellow walking across the street that I matched the description?”
WRHA CEO Jane Curtis said in a statement Monday that Samakese was released by police after co-workers “made it clear they had been together all day” and that he was not involved in the stabbing.
Curtis the organization was “deeply concerned” by the detention and that they’ve engaged police to learn more about how the situation unfolded.
Samakese said he was in the back of a police cruiser with his hands cuffed for several hours, with some senior management having to advocate for his release.
“They were explaining to me, ‘Well, the arrest was made,’ so they had to follow protocol and this and that — and I was agreeable,” he said.
“But as I was finally being let go, the only thing that was said to me was, you know, ‘Hey, is that your boss? Tell them they need to get their cameras fixed.’ … I didn’t feel validated. I didn’t feel like it was much of an apology.”
Winnipeg police said Monday they couldn’t comment on the matter because it was still an active case.
They have said the stabbing happened after an unprovoked altercation.
CUPE Local 204, which represents Samakese and colleagues, said they would like to see some investigation on how to make the area safer for staff and community members.
Samakese said that he didn’t feel unsafe doing outreach work before he was detained but the situation has made him a little wary.
“Now, I feel a little unsafe,” he said. “Another police officer might approach me while I’m doing the work.… I feel like I need to watch my back.”
Man mistakenly handcuffed for homicide says experience was traumatizing
