Mohawk Warrior Ron “lasagna” Cross is back in court, but this time on his own terms.
Cross has filed a police ethics complaint against five SQ officers for a brutal beating he (allegedly) received at their hands on Sept. 26, 1990. That’s the day Mohawks evacuated the Treatment Centre in Kanehsatake putting an end to the 78-day Oka/SQ crisis.
At the Quebec police ethics commission, Cross testified he was beaten on three separate occasions—in an army tent, in an SQ squad car and at Montreal’s Parthenais Prison.
An SQ lawyer tried to shake Cross’s testimony by suggesting he turned his face into one of the oncoming punches. “Was it to make them madder, eh?” asked the lawyer.
After he was captured, Cross was handcuffed in an army tent and approached by a 210-pound SQ officer wearing a helmet. “Lasagna, you’re not too brave now, are you?” he said. Cross testified that the officer kicked him in the face and ribs.
Once on the road to Montreal, another officer sat in the back of the car with Cross and (allegedly) beat him the whole way, smashing his head against the window. Once at Parthenais, Cross claims officers took turns beating him for six hours—from 9 p m. to 3:00 a.m.
Cross’s testimony is described in a press release from the Mohawk Nation News Service, based in Kahnawake.
