Video shows Halifax police officer pointing gun and shouting something 'unacceptable' at man with hands raised

Halifax police have launched an internal investigation after a video surfaced on social media over the weekend showing an officer saying something “unacceptable” as he appears to point a gun at a man hands raised.

The audio in the 28-second video is poor, but around the eighth second, the officer is heard saying something that sounds like, “I'm going to fill you with lead.” »

Someone in the room where the video is recorded repeats: “I'm going to fill you with lead.” »

Among those who shared the video were DeRico Symonds and Trayvone Clayton, two of the founders of the community activist group Game Changers 902. In social media posts accompanying the video, Symonds and Clayton both claim the man with his hands raised is Black. CBC News has reached out to them for comment.

The video, which appears to have been taken from the balcony of a building, shows the man walking away from the white police officer. The two men walk around a van in a parking lot.

The officer orders the man to stop, but he doesn't – and at one point the man says, “You have no right to shoot me in the back.”

At the 19-second mark, the man drops his arms and runs around an apartment building and out of the parking lot, while the officer appears to talk on a two-way radio. In the video, the officer does not shoot or chase him.

WARNING | This video contains graphic language:

CBC News has not confirmed who recorded the video.

Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella said in a statement that the incident began after police were called to Wentworth Drive Friday evening about four men arguing in a parking lot. Kinsella said three men, who were not in the video, were arrested and a loaded firearm and drugs were seized. The fourth man tried to flee, Kinsella said, leading to the incident caught on camera.

Kinsella said the comments that appear to have been made by the officer were “unacceptable” and confirmed the officer had been placed on administrative duties pending the conclusion of the investigation.

“We recognize that any incident of this type can be profoundly damaging to police-community relations,” the statement read. “We are committed to conducting a full investigation and ask the public to allow due process to be followed. »

Kinsella told CBC News that police had not found the man in the video, but were hoping to speak to him. He said anyone from the public with information should contact police.

Kinsella said the investigation would now take two tracks: one examining what led up to the incident, and the other examining what was said and in what context.