A video that went viral of two police officers within the Peel Regional Police Department being asked to box by a suspect. Of course, the video doesn’t detail the full extent of what actually happened at the time of the incident, so Cst. Bell-Morena posted a video to the police department’s official Facebook page to give some additional context.
If you haven’t seen the original video, it essentially consists of a man recording and goading officers to fight with him. In that video, the man recording made it seem as though the officers were the ones who initiated the encounter.
However, according to the footage posted to Facebook, that very much was not the case. In fact, judging by the way the man was behaving towards the officers, I would have immediately thought him to be suspicious.
I mean, who would entertain anyone who is asking a police officer to put on boxing gloves and spar with him for three rounds in the open? A crazy person, that’s who.
No, the Officers Didn’t Start This Interaction
Please give the following video just a moment to load up completely.
In the video, Cst. Bell-Morena explains that the two officers had actually been on foot and were responding to reports of people loitering and drinking alcohol publicly near a liquor store in Brampton, Toronto on July 29 at about 7:03 p.m. After checking things out, the two officers returned to their patrol car when they heard someone call out to one of the officers.
The man who called the officer over asks, “Can you box? I have two boxing gloves in the car.” You can tell that the officer was a little confused at the request, because he continued to ask the man what he meant.
Because of how odd the situation was and the fact that the officers were called to the area for people drinking in public, they asked the man for a breath sample. Fortunately, he passed the test, but this is likely why he was so angry in the initial viral video, in which he asked the two officers to box.
In this situation, context definitely matters.
Comments Praise Body Cameras and the Full Context
Many commenters said the body-camera footage changed how they viewed the encounter, with several arguing that it showed why full police video can matter when shorter clips circulate online. One person wrote that body-worn cameras “set the record straight yet again,” while another said the footage was a strong example of why officers need cameras when people may try to spin the narrative.
Others focused on the strange nature of the interaction itself. One commenter said asking an officer about boxing was such an unusual request that they understood why police chose to assess whether the driver was fit to be behind the wheel, while another simply asked whether the man could actually box at all.
Several people also defended the officers’ professionalism and sense of humor. One commenter praised the response as a good way to present the facts without leaning into clickbait, while another said it was refreshing to see the department show the entire encounter instead of only the version shared by the original poster.
A few commenters joked about how young the officers looked, asking whether it was “take your kid to work day.” Others pushed back on that idea, noting that everyone looks young at the beginning of a career and that police officers can still face serious situations regardless of age.