George Sinclair had just gotten into his vehicle and was ready to pull out of a Home Depot parking lot in Winnipeg this week when he was suddenly boxed in by three police cars, he says.

Sinclair, a 32-year-old Indigenous man, purchased a leaf blower at the Regent Avenue store around 11 a.m. Wednesday. He was shocked when police officers closed in on him.

"A cop came in my vehicle and grabbed me, and he said, 'You're under arrest for theft,'" Sinclair told CBC News on Thursday.

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"I don't even know what to think about it, because it's embarrassing. Like, all these people were staring at me getting ripped out of my car."

Sinclair said he was handcuffed and searched, adding one officer asked if his vehicle actually belonged to him.

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