Halifax police investigating recording of officer saying something ‘unacceptable’

Warning: Some readers may find the language in this story disturbing

Halifax police have started an internal investigation after a video surfaced on social media late Saturday showing an officer saying something “unacceptable” as he appears to be pointing a weapon at a man with his hands up.

The audio on the 28-second video is poor, but at one point the officer can be heard saying, “I will kill you for a f….king laugh.”

The video, shot from the balcony of a building, shows the suspect walking away from the officer as the two men walk around a pickup in a parking lot.

The officer orders the man to stop, but he doesn’t — and at one point the man says, “You’re not allowed to shoot me in the back.”

At the 19-second mark, the man drops his arms and sprints around an apartment building and out of the lot, as the officer appears to talk on a two-way radio.

Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella issued a statement at 9:17 p.m. Saturday saying an officer was involved high-risk situation Friday “involing drugs and weapons offences.”

The statement says the comments that appear to have been made by the officer were “unacceptable,” and Kinsella confirmed the officer has been placed on administrative duties pending the conclusion of the investigation.

“We recognize that any such incident can be deeply damaging to police community relations,” the statement says. “We are committed to a full investigatoin and ask members of the public to allow for due process to take place.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2021.