The Vancouver Police Board (VPB) discriminated against a Black woman during a Dec. 1, 2020, traffic stop and has been ordered to pay her $25,000, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ruled.

In the ruling, issued last week, the tribunal says Safiya Elshazly’s race and colour were factors in how she was treated, including the fact that the encounter was escalated to an arrest.

Tribunal member Laila Said says Elshazly was one of four backseat passengers — not the driver — in the vehicle. The car was stopped because an officer saw one of the passengers sitting on another passenger’s lap.

During the stop, a police officer, identified only as Cst. Cheng, asked Elshazly for her ID, the decision says. Elshazly said she didn’t have physical ID on her at the time but offered to provide identifying information instead. According to the decision, officers testified they could have searched a database using identifying information, but this is not what happened.

“Cst. Cheng removed her from the vehicle and arrested her for obstruction of justice,” Said wrote in the decision.

“Ms. Elshazly says the police officers did not treat the visibly white driver or other passengers who were also non-compliant with traffic rules the same way, and that the escalation and ultimate arrest happened in part because of her race, colour, and place of origin.”

Another officer at the scene, Cst. Bokenfohr, at one point said to Elshazly, “you are one drunk lady,” to which Elshazly replied that she was sober. Bokenfohr also warned her not to “run off.”

“Ms. Elshazly testified that being accused of being drunk was ‘extremely offensive’ because she does not consume alcohol for religious reasons,” the tribunal wrote.

“She said, ‘I may have been confused, frustrated by what’s happening but wasn’t in any way wanting to run away or drunk or didn’t know what I was doing.’”

Said writes that Elshazly’s description of her behaviour is consistent with video footage from the incident.

“There was no objective evidence to prompt the officer’s suggestion; the officer did not take any steps that would suggest he was genuinely concerned about her level of intoxication, nor did Ms. Elshazly do anything to cause or reinforce a belief that she was a flight risk.”

In addition, the ruling said, accusations of Elshazly being “belligerent” and “rude” were not supported by the video.

“I also find that the officers’ description of Ms. Elshazly as belligerent, and the decision to physically restrain and arrest her for obstruction of justice, was tainted by both the ‘angry Black woman’ stereotype and by the disproportionate expectation of docility and compliance by racialized people,” the tribunal said.

The $25,000 payment was ordered due to injury to Elshazly’s dignity, feelings, and self-respect. As well, the VPB must pay just under $1,400 for the replacement of her iPhone, which got damaged during the incident.