DJ Qualls, a cast member in "All About Steve," arrives at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009.Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press
An actor who described alleged rough treatment by a Vancouver police officer in a series of tweets on the weekend continued to write about the incident on Sunday, saying that he had met with representatives from the Vancouver Police Department and planned to file a formal complaint.
"I've met with reps from the professional standards unit and they are helping me make a formal complaint," said a Sunday tweet from the account of DJ Qualls.
A subsequent tweet said, "the events of Friday night in no way shape or inform my opinions of Vancouver or of Canada as a whole. I feel fortunate to get work here."
The actor, who has appeared in television series and movies including Hustle and Flow, began tweeting about the incident at about 5 a.m. PDT Saturday, saying he'd been a bystander to a fight when he was pushed to the ground by a police officer and required stitches as a result.
"Did nothing. Pointed out a man who hit a girl. He said I'd be arrested if I didn't shut up. Asked why and got tackled," said one of the tweets.
A video of Mr. Qualls, sitting on a sidewalk with a couple of police officers nearby, was posted on TMZ.com. In the video, a voice can be heard calling out to Mr. Qualls, who then responds, complaining that an officer 'busted my face and arrested me."
The incident gathered considerable attention on Twitter; in one tweet, Mr. Qualls said he'd picked up 600 new followers in an hour.
The day before Mr. Qualls took to Twitter to describe his encounter with the VPD, the force had co-ordinated 'tweet the chief', a virtual town hall that featured VPD chief Jim Chu in a web cast responding to questions or comments tweeted by members of the public.
A VPD spokesperson on Saturday told CTV that the force had "pro-actively initiated an investigation" into the incident.