An Edmonton high school student is questioning a ban he received from a downtown mall after he captured what he called an "unnecessary" use of force on camera.

VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE!

Jaden Scaife, 19, had left Centre High School in Edmonton and was waiting by a bus stop outside City Centre Mall Thursday, when he spotted some commotion.

"There was a few security guards from across the street and I noticed they were pointing at a guy across the street," explained Scaife.

The guards ran from the far side of the street to the side Scaife was on, grabbed a man and told him he was under arrest. Scaife said the man resisted and asked what he was being arrested for when security guards began getting more physical.

"Security just started to rough him up and I pulled out my phone camera because people were saying this should be recorded," Scaife said.

The video shows the next set of events, including security guards swarming one man and restraining him while one of them hit him repeatedly with her knee. Another man was taken away as well but went with less physical force.

That's when the guards turned their attention on Scaife.

"The security was saying we're not allowed to record," he said.

The footage shows a guard telling Scaife that he's not allowed to film, despite being on what he thought to be a public sidewalk, and told him if he continued to he'll be banned from the mall.

Scaife said he later learned that he had been banned for three months, leaving him questioning how he will navigate the bus system if he can't go to that stop or take the LRT into the mall.

"I was terrified. I was shaking," he said. "I was trembling, I've never seen anything like this before."

Edmonton police were called in as one of the men was charged criminally on two counts of assault with intent of resisting arrest and one count of uttering threats. But a spokesperson said they don't normally interfere with private security guard business as guard licences fall under the provincial Ministry of Justice and the Solicitor General.

Oxford Properties were asked about the roles and responsibilities of their security guards and whether the sidewalk is considered private property but declined comment.

According to Steven Penney, professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, the fact that cell phone cameras are so numerous today is a double-edged sword for law enforcement.

"We've seen instances where we have a degree of accountability or knowledge that may not have existed had filming not taken place. So there's certainly a positive social benefit there," Penney said, adding the negative side comes when context is lost.

"There are questions about context and background when the cameras are turned on and when they're turned off. We've seen many incidents like that where the recording doesn't necessarily give us the full picture," he said, adding, "all things being equal . . . having a visual record of controversial encounters between police and citizens can be a big benefit."

For Scaife's part, though shaken, he believes he did nothing wrong.

david.lazzarino@sunmedia.ca

@SUNDaveLazz