Châteauguay man pepper sprayed by police while his kids are in the car

A Châteauguay man was pulled over on Monday last week which led to a confrontation that was caught on video and is causing a media firestorm.

According to the Gazette article, John Chilcott refused to identify himself or exit his vehicle because the officer didn’t’ tell him why he pulled him over. The confrontation eventually led to Chilcott being pepper sprayed in the face even though his two kids aged 10 and 6 were inside the vehicle. The whole incident was filmed by his wife who saw the events unfold just outside their home.

Chilcott was taken to a police station and eventually released but has received three tickets in the mail totaling $1068. The infractions are obstructing the work of a police officer, failing to turn off his vehicle when pulled over and using his hazard lights unnecessarily.

There seems to be two schools of thought here. The first blames the driver for refusing to cooperate with the officer. The second school of thought faults the officer for using pepper spray when he wasn’t threatened – especially when kids were in the car. You can voice your opinion in the discussion forum here.

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