MONTREAL - Quebec's police ethics commission has sentenced a St. Jérôme police officer to a six-month suspension for the racial profiling of a black man and falsifying criminal charges against him.

Human rights advocates hailed the uncharacteristically severe sentence as a landmark ruling Friday.

"For those of us who have been critical of the committee's timid approach in the past, the decision is like a ray of hope in that it confirms that racial profiling is unacceptable and can lead to other sanctions," said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations.

The case stems from the night of Nov. 9, 2008, when Philippe Gauthier and his partner were on patrol, trying to identify members of motorcycle and street gangs.

The officers spotted Vens-Cols Edmond sitting in the passenger seat of a car outside Le Garage Motel St-Pierre strip bar in St. Jérôme at around 3 a.m. Edmond was waiting to pick up his wife, a dancer.

Gauthier rapped on the passenger window with his flashlight, then screamed and swore at Edmond to lower his window. When he didn't, Gauthier whipped open the door and dragged Edmond out, tearing his shirt, then pushed Edmond.

Edmond pushed back and demanded to be brought to the police station so he could give his version of events.

Police searched him and his car, handcuffed him and put him in the patrol car, then discovered he had no criminal record. They let him go, issuing a ticket for insulting a police officer.

The next day, Gauthier wrote a police report saying there was alcohol at the scene, intimating Edmond was drunk, and that Edmond assaulted him. Charges were brought against Edmond.

In their investigation of the incident prompted by Edmond's complaint, the ethics commission found Gauthier falsified the charges to cover the fact his only reason for approaching him was that he was black.

Edmond, who spends most of his time in Florida where he owns a large store, had his visa revoked because he had to travel over the border so many times to appear in criminal court and before the ethics commission. He also feared being prosecuted for assaulting a police officer. The charges have been dropped.

"When it is used with malicious intent, the pen of a police officer can be a tool as fearsome to the fundamental rights of a citizen as a gun is to his physical well-being," the commissioners wrote.

In total, Gauthier was sentenced to a suspension of 132 working days without pay, mainly for falsifying charges. He was suspended 10 days for racial profiling.

The committee considered firing Gauthier, in part because he showed little remorse.

They relented because he is relatively young and inexperienced - he'd been on the force five years - and they hope his punishment will convince him of the gravity of his offences.

Niemi noted, however, that in "99 per cent of cases" police appeal the decisions of the ethics committee to Quebec Court, which could take more than a year to hear the case.

rbruemmer@montrealgazette.com