BRANDON, Man. -- An aboriginal man in Manitoba has admitted he lied about police officers dropping him off on the outskirts of Brandon and forcing him to walk back in the cold.
Jay Moosetail told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network that officers threatened to make him walk and uttered racist comments after he left a house party on the weekend.
He said he decided to get back at police by going on Facebook and posting a story about a cold walk home. The post has since been removed.
"I am really sorry I made that up," said Moosetail. "It never happened. I was just mad because of the way they treated me.
"They made me feel worthless."
Moosetail said he was walking home after the party when officers asked him what he was doing. They pushed him up against a cruiser and searched him, he said.
They called him a "dirty Indian" and made a vulgar reference about the Idle No More movement, he said.
"They were trying to provoke me but I just kept my mouth shut."
Const. Ron Burgess, a spokesman with the Brandon Police Service, said the department did not receive a formal complaint from the man. It found out about his cold walk story through social media.
"It kind of snowballed from there."
But Burgess said all of the man's allegations are being taken seriously and police have requested an outside investigation. "We took the initiative to get another police agency involved and let them decide what did or did not happen."
RCMP spokeswoman, Sgt. Line Karpish, said Mounties are looking into the case. But she can't comment yet on any findings.
"I know Facebook is alive and well on these things but ... as a responsible policing agency, we need to find out the facts, certainly before we make any determination."
