A former Whitehorse mayoral candidate is suing seven RCMP officers and the Attorney General of Canada.

Mandeep Sidhu, 29, alleges he was assaulted, unlawfully arrested and discriminated against during interactions with police two years ago.

Sidhu filed a lawsuit in Yukon Supreme Court last week. It states that police had “improper motives,” including racial bias, for detaining and arresting him in December 2012.

He also alleges he obtained a head injury and “extensive” bruising during that arrest, and that he was not allowed to call his lawyer despite two requests to do so. That was a breach of his Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms rights, according to Sidhu’s statement of claim, filed Nov. 25.

The document says Sidhu does not have a criminal record.

Both he and Whitehorse RCMP spokesman Const. Dean Hoogland declined to comment while the matter is before the courts.

The allegations date back to 2012, when Sidhu started working at his family’s laundromat on Fourth Avenue in Whitehorse.

He was pulled over by police on traffic duty at least 12 times that year and the year prior, the document states.

In May 2012, Sidhu was ticketed for an alleged seatbelt infraction by Const. Andrew West. He disputed the ticket, and it was withdrawn.

In December 2012, Sidhu was pulled over by West just after midnight at a R.I.D.E. check stop in downtown Whitehorse.

He was not impaired, there was no alcohol in the vehicle, and he gave West his driver’s licence – which was valid, the document states.

West proceeded to investigate further, doing a computerized check on Sidhu’s driving record, Sidhu alleges.

“The Defendant Constable West acted with malice and improper motives, including racial bias and prejudice,” the statement of claim says.

This was unlawful detention that “singled out Sidhu as a person of East Indian descent and defamed his recent campaign to run as mayor of Whitehorse.”

Sidhu called 911 to complain, and met with Cpl. Natasha Dunmall to discuss his concerns later that day.

“Corporal Dunmall failed to take his complaint seriously and did not proceed with necessary steps to initiate the complaint,” the document states.

Instead, Dunmall began investigating Sidhu for alleged threats he’d made against West during their meeting.

Sidhu was charged three days later with uttering threats by Const. Krista Easton, and four officers arrested him at his work: constables Mike Seidemann, Matthew Leggett and Scott Carr, and Cpl. Jason B. Waldner, according to the statement of claim.

This happened “without reasonable and probable grounds to believe Sidhu conveyed a threat to Constable Andrew West,” it states.

Sidhu alleges the officers didn’t allow him to call his lawyer at the time of the arrest, despite his requests.

He also alleges Leggett “assaulted and battered (him) during the arrest by using excessive force.”

With Sidhu in the back seat of the cruiser, Leggett “intentionally drove past the entrance to the vehicle bay at the courthouse and braked suddenly, causing Sidhu to hit his head against the silent patrolman in the police cruiser.”

He also grabbed Sidhu’s arm “with excessive force” when Sidhu was exiting the cruiser, the document says.

As a result, he suffered a head injury and bruising on his arm, he alleges.

Sidhu was acquitted of the uttering-threats charge by a judge in May 2013.

(It was after this hearing that Sidhu sued CBC North for defamation, alleging its coverage of his court proceedings portrayed him in a negative light.

A Supreme Court judge ruled this year that Sidhu’s filing of that suit was not within the necessary time frame, and Sidhu appealed. That was dismissed by the Yukon Court of Appeal two weeks ago.)

The statement of claim details past experiences Sidhu has had with officers in Whitehorse and Watson Lake, and attributes the defendants’ “malice” to this history.

Before he moved to Whitehorse, Sidhu worked at his family’s RV park in Watson Lake during the summers while he was studying at the University of Victoria, from 2006 to 2011.

That first summer, he befriended a female RCMP officer in town, and one day three male officers showed up at Sidhu’s work and told him he wasn’t to contact her anymore unless it was through them, the document states.

He was detained by police several times over the next three summers, and charged with various motor-vehicle infractions.

In August 2010, Sidhu was arrested and charged with the impaired operation of a motor vehicle, obstructing a peace officer, mischief and sexual assault. Those charges were stayed.

The following year, he was pulled over and arrested for using his phone while driving, police alleged.

Sidhu was charged with uttering threats, obstructing a peace officer, assaulting a peace officer and mischief, but those charges were stayed.

He was later convicted of using an iPhone while driving, but that was quashed on appeal, when the Crown conceded “an iPhone was not used by him,” the document states.

After that arrest, Sidhu didn’t return to Watson Lake.

“His family further feared for his safety, being on his own in a remote area and being the target of unwarranted police attention,” the statement of claim says.

So the family business in Watson Lake shut down, and Sidhu lost his job.

He filed a complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP regarding the incidents in Whitehorse and Watson Lake, and it was “informally resolved,” the document states.

With this suit, Sidhu is seeking damages for physical and psychological injury, financial costs to defend his prosecution, being “exposed to scandal in local and global media” and because “his reputation in business has been tarnished.”

He ran unsuccessfully for the Whitehorse mayoralty in October 2012.

A case management conference is scheduled for Feb. 3.