'They called me racist': Saskatoon guard saw life 'nearly collapse' after arrest video
The security guard who arrested a woman outside a Saskatoon grocery store says he watched “his life and livelihood nearly collapse,” after the altercation was caught on camera and shared online.
Cameron McMillan attempted to arrest Annette Custer outside the FreshCo on 33rd Street on April 14, 2021.
The violent altercation was recorded and posted online, where it went viral.
McMillan was fired from his job, his security license was revoked and he watched thousands of comments surface — including, by local leaders.
“They called me racist, hateful, violent and criminal, with some even going so far as to suggest that I had committed a sexual assault,” McMillian wrote in a victim impact statement.
In June, Custer was found guilty of assault and theft. She testified she went to FreshCo to steal food.
Mayor Charlie Clark took to his Facebook account on April 17, 2021.
"Seeing the video of the violent attempted arrest of an Indigenous woman in a parking lot right here in our city made me angry. This violence needs to stop,” Clark wrote.
Judge Doug Agnew found McMillan acted within his rights — making a legal citizen’s arrest. Agnew said McMillan was entitled to use reasonable force to detain Custer until a police officer arrived.
“I take these comments from the judge to heart and will reflect on them,” Clark wrote in an email to CTV News.
McMillan said he was shocked to see Custer at the centre of a press conference, days after the arrest.
“Promises were made to ruin me for a crime I had never committed, and which Ms. Custer knew I had never committed,” McMillan wrote in his statement, read in front of a judge on Monday.
During the April 20, 2021 news conference, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said Custer was treated "unfairly, violently and inhumanely.”
Cameron called for criminal charges to be laid against McMillan.
CTV News has contacted the FSIN for comment.
Custer’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue on Thursday.
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