Road Trip star beaten by Vancouver police

By Alexandra Heilbron on September 26, 2011 | 19 Comments


Road Trip star DJ Qualls claims to have been beaten up by Vancouver police last Friday. He was in town filming an episode of Supernatural when he says he witnessed “a dude punch a girl.” He tried to tell a policeman what he’d seen, but was told to get lost. He says when he asked why, the policeman “jumped me & pushed my face into cement.” Qualls tweeted on September 24: “Before it hit the news, just got out out of the ER, Was beaten by a Vancouver Police Officer for no reason. Got stitches and released.” After his initial tweet, he wrote: “Was not arrested b/c was innocent. I was handcuffed and bleeding while the cop kept saying to me, “you think youre f**king better than me?” Rpeatedly asked 4 his badge number and he said if I didnt shut up, Id be taken in. Finally got a card as I was taken to hospital.” Qualls says the cop: “Taunted me for 1/2hr b4 the ambulance came. I was held, no calls, no attorney. AND I had to pay an $800 ER bill. Free healthcare, Canada?” He added: “I demand an apology from Officer Brian Officer Trklja.” Yesterday, he wrote: “Ive met with reps from the Professional Standards unit and they are helping me make a formal complaint. So far, they have been helpful and supportive and we all look forward to a resolution of the situation. I would like to add that the events of Friday night in no way shape or inform my opinions of Vancouver or Canada as a whole.” Qualls has also appeared in All About Steve, The New Guy, Lost and The Big Bang Theory.



Comments & Discussion

  1. Karen Munro • September 26, 2011 @ 12:31 PM

    I’m sorry this happened to him! I’m glad he doesn’t feel that this is normal abuse from our Police officers.I hope this is resolved quickly.

  2. Joshua • September 26, 2011 @ 1:15 PM

    Geeze.. Leave it to the people “protecting us” to do there job. But DJ is American so I’m sure they gotta be used to being ignored and mistreated by Police and the Government by now.

  3. Germain • September 26, 2011 @ 1:24 PM

    There’s three sides to every story.

  4. Neil • September 26, 2011 @ 2:29 PM

    DJ Qualls is like the skinniest guy (outside of Eritrea/Ethiopia) on the planet. Sounds like this particular cop was a bully. It’s a shame because most cops are pretty great.

  5. NotGermain • September 26, 2011 @ 3:21 PM

    Deplorable… I don’t care what he did, an unarmed man who is f**king tiny doesn’t call for that. What threat was he to the officer? The officer is clearly out of line. My sincere hope is that he’s flat out fired and banned from working again.

  6. C-Dub • September 26, 2011 @ 3:46 PM

    3 sides to a story yes, but this seems weird. No provocation and a cop beats down this skinny dude. Weird.

  7. Carl • September 26, 2011 @ 4:02 PM

    Sounds like a typical cop to me. I’ll never forget the video of them tasering and killing an innocent man from another country who couldn’t speak English because he was confused and upset after being stuck in a room for 3 or more hours. However, I’m sure the cop’s supervisors will find him innocent. They always stand behind their own. Cops get away with everything.

  8. haha • September 26, 2011 @ 7:16 PM

    ohh Vancouver… you just keep making falling and falling…disgrace to Canada

  9. Jay • September 26, 2011 @ 11:08 PM

    Hey DJ Qualls,

    If your an american you don’et get free Canadian Health Care. D owe Canadians get free health care? NO. We pay higher taxes.

    Maybe you should be doing some homework before ranting. And your just another overpaid actor.

    Deal with it.

  10. angelfire7 • September 26, 2011 @ 11:13 PM

    I just want to say no one else was there. This is all what he has alleged to what has happened. As others have said that there are 3 sides to every story. While yes according to DJ he was attacked for no reason, we don’t really know that. No person is really going to incriminate themselves. I just wish people would take these articles with a grain of salt.

  11. L1feless • September 27, 2011 @ 8:04 AM

    In order for an officer to attack someone in the manor which clearly happened. Stitches, cuffs…etc He would of had to taunt and potentially threaten the officer physically in order for the officer to have been justified to use that kind of force. I am assuming that this guy was not armed and he is not the largest or most threatening person I’ve ever seen either. So I think it stands to reason that if he was alone that the officer in question is likely in the wrong.

    Cops have bad days too. The problem is that when a cop has a bad day or makes a bad decision there are little consequences for their poor judgement. When people have bad days or make poor decisions they are reprimanded by the cops. For this very reason a cop is and should be a model citizen. Should abide by the law at all times and when they break the law should be treated EXACTLY like the rest of the general population is.

  12. Linda • September 27, 2011 @ 6:35 PM

    I find Mr. Qualls description of the events suspicious….

  13. Nadine N • September 27, 2011 @ 7:16 PM

    Yeah, sounds and smells like a Canadian Pig to me.

  14. Andrea • September 28, 2011 @ 8:45 AM

    Power corrupts. I don’t find his story unusual at all. The police think they can do anything to anyone. I hope this guy gets kicked off the force, although since it’s an old boys network, I’m sure he’ll just get a pat on the back.

  15. mitch • September 28, 2011 @ 9:29 AM

    As an American, dosent qualify for “Free’ health care. He should have had insurance. Guess agent didnt tell him to get insurance…or he didnt bother. I always make sure I have insurance when I visit USA.

  16. Germain • September 28, 2011 @ 9:44 AM

    Cops are human too, it’s a tough job and under stress, anyone can loose it. If it happened the way this kids explains it, then he should face disciplinary actions but it’s easy for someone to distort the truth to get is name in the headlines. His tweet “before it hits the news” meaning he thought it was news worthy. It wouldn’t have been mentioned if he hadn’t talked about it. IT all sounds fishy, why would a cop beat up someone like that just because?? As Mitch said, why would he think he’d get free healthcare in Canada, that tells you how dumb he is.

  17. Bob • September 28, 2011 @ 10:36 AM

    Pigs being Pigs

    No sympathy for them

  18. TheTruth • September 28, 2011 @ 11:07 AM

    It may be possible that the cop chose to do nothing when being told the information and Qualls proceeded to badger him verbally thus breaking the cop and resulting in his so called “beating”. Though 1 out of every 2 run ins I’ve had with cops, they’ve been d1cks.

    @L1feless Agreed.

  19. Germain • September 28, 2011 @ 12:44 PM

    I have 2 cops in my family and I can tell you, the stories I hear, they are unfairly portrayed and judged. There’s idiots everywhere and every professions but it’s not just black and white.


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