The Terrebonne Intermunicipal Police Department believes it acted within the rules of the art in this matter.
The family of Destiny Barthold, one of the female victims of the alleged attack, lives in fear and accuses police of not believing them from the start. Here's how the facts alleged by Destiny unfolded, as evidenced by the statement she provided to Noovo Info.
Destiny and her friends were waiting in a vehicle at the time of the alleged incident. “The man came and knocked on the window (of the car),” she said. “I turned my head to look: he had a black hood.”
The 51-year-old alleged attacker's comments were disturbing, to say the least. “He said, ‘Go back to your neighborhood. “I will kill you if you don’t go back to your neighborhood,” and continued banging on the window,” Destiny reported.
A difficult exchange with the dispatcher?
What happens next sends shivers down your spine. He is said to have brought out an ax and a knife to hit the vehicle. “He said, 'If you don't move, I'm going to kill you,'” said Destiny, who was a passenger at the time of the incident. “He hit the window with his ax and the window broke on me.”
The driver of the car then reversed to leave the scene and the man pursued the vehicle on foot, according to Destiny, who couldn't hold back her tears before criticizing the police's work.
“I called 911,” she remembers. “I screamed because I was panicking. I saw my life floating before my eyes, I thought I was going to die.”
“The lady (the dispatcher, editor's note) started screaming: 'If you don't calm down, I'll hang up'.”
Destiny's mother Lydia also contacted the police. “I called the police and said, 'I don't understand what you're doing.' She told me, “People shouldn't panic.” I said, “Isn't that scary enough? My family almost died on my property!”
Ms. Barthold feels that she is not being treated well by the police authorities. She appealed to the Red Coalition, a Montreal-based lobbying firm that works to eliminate racial profiling and systemic racism in Canada.
“They showed the broken window,” said Alain Babineau of the Red Coalition. “A young girl had a cut. They didn't feel sore that same evening. Even when the mother called back two days later, the matter seemed to be downplayed. There was no further contact for a week and a half after that.”
“You can imagine the horror in which the lady and her family lived,” Mr Babineau added.
“Imagine if there was no response if four young white girls called the police station and said they had just been attacked by a black man with an ax and a knife while pointing to the spot where he was would have hidden…”
– Alain Babineau from the Red Coalition
The 51-year-old is accused of bodily harm, threats to kill and mischief. He is scheduled to appear in court in the coming days. But Terrebonne police refuse to comment on the case to Noovo Info
Meanwhile, Destiny Barthold lives in great fear and realizes that the police are not doing enough.
“I’m afraid to stay alone in my own house.”