Victim of Montreal police strip club beatdown tells his story

   As we have tragically learned, a night of revelry can quickly slip from festive bliss to panic, violence and tragedy.
   Police are usually on the right side of this equation but one young Montrealer tells Coolopolis that the very people who he would expect to protect him savagely beat him for no reason while at a nightclub on Nov. 1.

Robert Stonescu seen here in a collage with Kama Sutra behind him

   Robert Stonescu was with five friends celebrating his pal's 21st birthday at the cozy Kama Sutra Gentlemen's Club (You mean strip club no doubt - Chimples) when the mayhem began.
   One of his friends reached out to grab the bottom of a performer, which is a clear violation of protocol in such establishments.

   Stonescu had no part in his friend's action, which he describes as "stupid."
   The doorman quickly interceded on behalf of the aggrieved woman in skimpy thong and and he ushered the young man out the door. 

   The rest of the group followed.
   Meanwhile a group of policemen who had been standing inside the bar for over half an hour confronted the group as they stood near the entrance one St. Dominique just south of Prince Arthur.
   Stonescu believes that one office mistakenly thought he had some involvement in the offending bum-grab

   The offier targeted him by screaming in his face.
   "C'est quoi ton hostie d'affaire?"
   The young man parroted the cop by replying in a similar bellicose style.
   The cop did not deem that an appropriate answer and hit Stonescu hard on the forehead with a left cross.
   Another officer then joined in and police hit him four times altogether. 

   He said that one cop told him in French, "shut up or I'll kill you." 

   Stonescu saw another officer kick one of his companions without provocation and then push him to the ground and handcuff him.
   Stonescu fled amid the mayhem but then worried that his flight might further provoke the enraged officers who he feared might even shoot him in the heat of the moment. 

   So he simply stopped and laid down on the sidewalk.
   Police then punched and kicked Stonescu - who is small of stature - as he lay prone on the ground pleading for them to stop.
   They then handcuffed him and marched him to a police cruiser, forcing his hands high above his back as he walked, loudly calling him "tapette" (faggot) as he walked.
  The officers, members of the Eclipse squad, which aims to "combat violent crime," drove him a few blocks away and released him without charge.
  The police officers did the same to his companions.
   After he left the police car, Stonescu realized that his jacket, wallet and cell phone were still inside the police cruiser.
   Stonescu was unable to reach his friends and ended up waiting from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. outside in the rain near the gas station at Sherbrooke and St. Lawrence, where the cashier would not allow him to enter.
   Police instructed him to come to Mount Royal and St. Lawrence to collect his belongings but made no assurances how long he'd be there. 

  So he did not embark on the 17 minute walk in the rain.    

   Nor did he hop a cab because he was unsure the police would be there to give him his money back, which he needed to pay the driver.
   After four hours of waiting police finally brought Stonescu his belongings. 

   He returned home to Laval where he went to see if he had suffered a concussion at a local hospital and to have his other bumps and bruises examined.
   Stonescu -- who has no criminal background and who one friend Coolopolis describes as a "an amazing sweetheart," -- says he is still shocked and traumatized at what he endured. 

  He said he has taken steps to file a criminal complaint against the officers.
  "It's my duty as a citizen. I said to myself that 'I'm not going to let this happen to another guy to get beaten up for nothing,' because next time they'll do it worse," he said.