Police investigating ‘troubling’ video of woman restrained in Winnipeg hotel

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A rally inside the Marlborough Hotel devolved into chaos Sunday afternoon as people forced their way through locked doors in the building’s basement and ransacked a bar area, leaving the lower level littered with broken glass and drenched in alcohol.

Upstairs, on the downtown hotel’s main floor, dozens of people had gathered in protest after a four-week old video of an Indigenous woman restrained and confined inside the hotel lobby circulated online.

The footage captures part of an altercation in which hotel staff used zip-ties to bind the woman’s hands behind her back, after she allegedly brandished a knife and attempted to stab an employee who asked her to leave the premises, said Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy.

“At that point, they were able to disarm the female and restrain her,” Chancy said. “Police came. She was turned over to officers, placed under arrest and subsequently charged with assault with a weapon.”

The incident began around 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, when police received a call concerning a woman who was loitering in the hotel lobby and refusing to leave.

Police were not able to respond immediately, but arrived on scene around 1:30 p.m., after hotel staff called to report the alleged attempted stabbing, Chancy said.

Hotel staff restrained the woman out of concern she may hurt herself, staff or members of the public, he said.

“It does not come across our desk very often where citizens are making arrests. However, there have been instances where members of the public have detained a person until police arrive so that they don’t get away. This is usually when a criminal offense has been witnessed,” Chancy said, speaking generally.

“It’s always preferable, of course, to use a different mechanism like handcuffs, however, there is no wrongdoing in using the zip-ties to ensure the safety of, not only the person they are holding for police, but the safety of the people around them.”

A more than three-minute video shows the woman sobbing with her arms bound behind her back in the hotel lobby at 331 Smith St.

• Watch the video (includes strong language)

The recording begins with two men holding the woman by her arms near a stairwell as an apparent bystander claims: “They’re taking her in the basement now.”

The restrained woman makes several attempts to leave the building but is blocked by two men who are holding the door closed.

“Lock the door. She is trying to run,” says a man, speaking off camera. “She is handcuffed and she is running.”

At one point, the woman accuses a man of being a “pervert” and says she was punched in the face and touched in her “private spot.”

The video was published online the day after the incident, but it did not come to police attention until this week, Chancy said.

Marlborough staff are not facing charges for restraining the woman, but the video has prompted a separate investigation into what occurred, he said.

Police are not releasing the woman’s name or age due to privacy concerns related to the second investigation.

A statement issued by Rakib Hoque, the Marlborough’s general manager, said WPS advised hotel staff to restrain the woman.

“We want to assure the community that our only intention was to prevent this young woman from harming herself or others until the WPS arrived.

“We apologize for not issuing this statement much earlier. Our concern was and is that this matter is before the courts,” he said.

According to a hotel employee, Hoque was not at the hotel during Sunday’s rally.

Hotel basement ransacked

What started as a peaceful protest at 2 p.m., took a turn less than an hour after it started.

As a large crowd of protesters sang Indigenous songs, pounded drums and called for justice in the lobby, a separate group split off and went downstairs.

Pools of red wine and shards of glass marked the path where they tore through the basement. Several locked doors were broken open, and the contents of multiple metal storage lockers were spilled onto the floor — revealing piles of women’s clothing, children’s diapers and high heels.

Downstairs inside a bar area, the Free Press watched as people scoured drawers, fridges and cabinets. One person ripped open a case of beer and began hurling glass bottles across the room where they smashed on the tile floor.

Tables, chairs and other furniture were flipped over and strewn throughout the room.

The decision to ransack the basement seemed to be fuelled by unsubstantiated allegations made by people in the crowd that the space was being used for human trafficking.

Such claims have not been confirmed or mentioned by police.

The crowd of protesters — both upstairs and downstairs — dispersed around 3:30 p.m., leaving only a few people and hotel staff inside the lobby.

Somebody called the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service to report an alleged gas leak, but when firefighters arrived, they quickly determined it was a false alarm.

By that point, police had begun to walk through the building to assess the extent of the damage. It is unclear whether they arrested anybody as a result.

‘Appalling,’ ‘troubling’: Indigenous groups

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Southern Chiefs Organization and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak each issued statements, decrying the video and unanimously committing to cut ties with the hotel.

The Marlborough is used by some social and Indigenous organizations to temporarily house people travelling to Winnipeg from First Nations for medical appointments.

“It was very alarming to us as leaders, and we need to be able to come here to be able to support our people,” AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, said during the rally.

“It’s very concerning because what happened to the young lady and what was really shown to the public about being zip-tied with her hands behind her back is not called for.”

The AMC previously said it is terminating its business relationship with the Marlborough Hotel because of the incident.

The Indigenous organization, which represents nearly every First Nation in Manitoba, described the video as “troubling.”

“The appalling treatment of this woman by hotel staff is a clear example of the systemic issues that contribute to the vulnerability of Indigenous women and girls and sheds light on the larger issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, a crisis that has plagued our society for far too long,” said MKO, a non-profit organization that advocates for northern Manitoba communities.

“We demand that First Nations Inuit Health Branch and other organizations refrain from taking our patients to this hotel and be thoughtful of where they send our vulnerable citizens in the future.”

SCO similarly said it was “alarmed” by the video and said “patients travelling from SCO Nations to access health care in Winnipeg should not need to stay at this hotel.”

The organization advocates for First Nations in southern Manitoba.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca