Edmonton woman Fabyan Deschamps is speaking out after what she is calling a traumatic experience involving an Edmonton Police Service officer.
Deschamps said back in August, she and a group of people were in a parking lot along Fort Road when they were approached by two officers and asked to give their names.
Deschamps says she complied with the officer, who then allegedly threw her to the ground.
“He grabbed me by the back of the head and then smashed my face right into the cement,” Deschamps said. “When I came to, when I looked at myself in the mirror — it looked like I got hit by a bus or something.”
Deschamps has been recovering from injuries to her face and back — but it’s the scars you can’t see that she’s really struggling with.
“Ever since then, I’ve had a lot of headaches and memory problems and emotionally really overwhelmed, ,” she said. “I’m scared to go outside sometimes and every time that I hear a police siren or helicopters.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
“I’m afraid something bad might happen to me.”
On Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service said it was working on a response to the alleged incident.
NorQuest College justice studies chair and criminologist Dan Jones was a member of the Edmonton Police Service for 25 years and worked as a homicide detective, undercover officer, foot patrol and gang unit member and more.
He said the use of force is never a pretty situation.
“There’s times when use of force is necessary for police,” Jones said. “But when you start to see the use of force being used in an unnecessary circumstance — is that a training issue? Is that a personnel issue? Is that a systems issue?”
Deschamps doesn’t know why the alleged incident happened but worries her First Nations race was a factor.
“It’s not okay, just because we’re minorities and Aboriginal people or that we come from the streets. It’s not okay to treat us like that and kick us while we’re already down.”
Deschamps has since filed a complaint with the province’s Police Review Commission, who has forwarded the file on to be considered for a criminal investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.
“The fact that it moves to ASIRT tells me that there’s likely something more to this from a complaint perspective,” Jones noted. “This is going to be one of those test cases that determine whether the systems are actually working for the complainants.”
Deschamps said she has met with an ASIRT investigator and hopes something productive comes from her complaint.
With files from Karen Bartko, Global News
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
