A Chateauguay man plans to file a complaint with the police ethics commissioner after a run-in with police that ended with him being pepper sprayed in his car as his two young children sat in the back seat and watched.

John Chilcott says he was stopped last Monday for what he says amounts to driving while black. When he was pulled over, he said the police officer would not give him a reason for stopping him.

When Chilcott refused to identify himself because he didn't know what he had done, he says the officer pepper sprayed him.

“I was treated like an animal. There was no regard for my rights, my human rights,” he said, questioning why a police officer resorted so quickly, in his opinion, to the use of force.

“I didn’t resist arrest, I didn’t do [anything], I was just sitting in my car,” he said.

His children also came into contact with the pepper spray. They were treated in hospital.

In response to a request for comment, Chateauguay police issued a news release that doesn’t mention Chilcott by name but details an intervention that occurred Dec. 14, which was last Monday.

According to the police, an officer pulled over a person who refused to identify himself after committing “many” violations of the Highway Safety Code. The man refused to collaborate with the officer, who then pepper sprayed him.

Medical assistance was offered to the affected parties, but was refused, the statement says. Police brought the person who was pepper sprayed to the station for attention.

The statement says the interaction is the subject of an internal investigation, and points out that Chateauguay police adhere to the national use of force protocol, which advises officers to use the means they deem necessary, within reason, to end an interaction safely. It also says anyone unhappy with the actions of a police officer can make a complaint with the police ethics commissioner.

Chilcott plans to do just that and has enlisted the help of the Montreal-based Centre for Research Action on Race Relations.