SEAN Vaillancourt was feeling
anything but appreciated during a recent military appreciation night at a
downtown Halifax bar.
The last thing he was expecting
was to end up in handcuffs face down on the pavement as bouncers fired insults
at him.
A sonar operator with the
Canadian navy, Mr. Vaillancourt said he was celebrating with military pals at
Cheers on Friday, May 4. Around 11:15 p.m., staff at the Grafton Street bar
asked one of his friends to leave.
When Mr. Vaillancourt, who said
he had had a few beers by that time, asked a bouncer why his friend was being
kicked out, he was taken outside by several bouncers.
"They ended up not just dragging
me out but pushing me down to the ground," the 34-year-old said, adding that the
bouncers handcuffed him while crossing his legs and pulling them up over his
lower back.
"As a result of that I ended up
getting a second-degree sprain on my left foot."
Mr. Vaillancourt said he has had
to use a cane since the incident.
When one of the bouncers went
through his wallet and discovered he was with the military, Mr. Vaillancourt
said he was pelted with insults.
Mr. Vaillancourt said the
bouncers told him that he was too chicken to go to Afghanistan and that he’d
rather stay here and cause trouble.
One of Mr. Vaillancourt’s
friends, who did not want his name used but is also in the navy, said he
witnessed Mr. Vaillancourt’s altercation with the bouncers inside the bar.
"They were all speaking quite
loud at that point, arguing, I guess," the man said, explaining that he had been
drinking earlier in the day but was sober at the time of the incident.
The man said he went outside to
keep on eye on Mr. Vaillancourt and saw that bouncers had handcuffed him and
folded his legs back toward his lower back.
The man added that he too heard
the bouncers insulting Mr. Vaillancourt and the military in general.
"There were a few comments made
outside . . .,"" he said. "It went along the lines of, ‘You’re too young of guts
to go to Afghanistan so you stay here to cause problems.’ "
A representative for the bar, who
declined to give his name, said he couldn’t speak about the incident, but said
bouncers are within their rights to hold someone until police arrive.
He also said it was unlikely any
staff member would bad-mouth the military, especially with several reservists
working at the bar.
"I wouldn’t have somebody on my
staff that would say that, especially on a Friday night when we offer free cover
for military."
Const. Jeff Carr, a spokesman for
Halifax Regional Police, said there’s nothing in the Criminal Code preventing a
bouncer from using handcuffs.
"The doormen have the power of a
citizen’s arrest," he said. "As long as they could show the force they used was
reasonable."
Charlie Khoury, the manager of
Rain nightclub on Argyle Street, said his head of security uses handcuffs and he
believes there should be someone on staff who is trained to use them just in
case.
"I think it’s sometimes necessary
to detain people," he said. "Some people are not controllable."
Mr. Khoury added that no bouncer
at his club has used handcuffs on a patron.
But Mr. Vaillancourt, who said he
has worked as a bouncer in several Ontario bars, still feels the use of
handcuffs by bouncers is unreasonable.
"Whenever we ejected somebody,
first off, there had to be a reason. Secondly, when you get them out of the bar,
that’s it. They’re now the police officer’s responsibility."
Mr. Vaillancourt said he has
retained a lawyer.
