Three weeks after his acquittal in a case of assault causing bodily harm, Quebec City police officer Jacob Picard is done with the criminal justice system. On Thursday morning, the prosecutor dropped the sole charge against him in a second case, clearing the legal clouds that had followed him for three years.
“This morning, we requested the withdrawal of the accusation in the case concerning Mr. Jacob Picard,” wrote the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions to Duty. We have received additional information that was not known to us at the time the file was authorized.
This information dismisses the criminal theory in this case, adds the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP). “We are of the opinion,” he further writes, “that the case is more a matter of police ethics.”
Jacob Picard, 29, was in turmoil after two videos were released in late 2021 showing him at the heart of controversial interventions. One showed him throwing an individual who refused to comply against the wall of the Le District bar. The second showed an officer, presumably Jacob Picard, threatening an individual during an altercation on Grande-Allée, before throwing him against a patrol car.
The two events took place a few days apart, on October 17 and 24. Their media coverage plunged the Quebec City Police Department (SPVQ) into turmoil, as it was already grappling with allegations of racial profiling that arose following a third intervention, which also took place on Grande-Allée.
The outcome represents a victory for the police officer, who until today was still facing a charge of simple assault. Now freed from any criminal proceedings, Jacob Picard must nevertheless still face a civil lawsuit brought by Mathieu Gamache, the man he had thrown against the wall of the District.