Impaired driving, obstruction of justice and assault are the offenses most frequently committed by police officers, after domestic violence and sexual assault, according to the census. Duty.
Police officers pinned for cases of drunk driving represent 24.5% of cases which placed members of the police in the dock between 2018 and 2023, reveals an investigation by the Duty. A statistic much higher than that of the general population, which is on average 9% for the same period, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Impaired driving charges were filed in 29 cases, 18 of which resulted in a guilty verdict and a sentence imposing fines ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 on the police. Suspensions ranging from a few days to a few months have also been ordered by disciplinary committees. However, in 8 cases, the charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs resulted in an acquittal.
This is the case of Repentigny sergeant Marie-Ève Sergerie, who was accused of driving while impaired in 2021. The court recognized that the doubts of the patrol officers who intercepted her were well-founded. They suspected the sergeant of being under the influence of alcohol. However, the agents committed violations during their intervention, which forced the court to exclude the evidence collected.
“ [Ils ont] observed [Mme Sergerie] while she failed her parking maneuver in an abnormal and marked manner,” noted the judge in the decision which led to her acquittal.
The evening of her interception, Sergeant Sergerie took the breathalyzer test, which revealed a blood alcohol level equal to or greater than the legal limit. “ [Un des agents] noticed the strong odor of alcohol coming from the passenger compartment and she was alone in the vehicle. She seemed disoriented, surprised and frozen to see him. A wine bottle cork was visible at his feet. These are objectively established facts,” notes the judge, who declares the evidence inadmissible.
But [le policier] who has been there for fifteen years, who is a valuable asset to the police department and to the public it serves, well it would be more justifiable in his case to impose a sanction on him that would not be dismissal
His vehicle and driving license were seized. The duo of patrol officers who arrested her testified in court that they responded to a call from the Sûreté du Québec reporting erratic driving of a vehicle on the highway. After checks, the police saw the sergeant while she was parking her car on the edge of her home. Sergeant Marie-Ève Sergerie refused our interview request. The Police Department of the City of Repentigny confirmed to Duty that she was still in office, but was not able to tell us whether she had had to face a disciplinary committee regarding the alleged facts.
As with other Criminal Code offenses investigated by summary procedure, a police officer can plead specific circumstances before the disciplinary committee in order to justify a sanction other than dismissal. According to Robert De Blois, lawyer and author of the book Police ethics and the Police Act, “the police officer who has three months of service and who is arrested for drunkenness, the bond of trust, it is not big. But someone who has been there for 15 years, who is a valuable asset to the police department and to the public that he serves, well it would be more justifiable in his case to impose a sanction on him that would not be dismissal.”
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Obstruction of justice
The police officers also faced charges of obstructing justice and the work of peace officers in 13 cases in the last five years.
Mathieu Paré was acquitted in September 2021 of obstructing justice, but was convicted of counseling a criminal offense, in addition to inflicting bodily harm.
On the evening of May 7, 2019, while doing his last shift in the village of Salluit, Officer Paré, accompanied by his colleague, went to a citizen’s home after “a call about violence”. When they arrived, Joanasie Angutigirk was “intoxicated”. He is placed under arrest and put into the patrol car. During transport, Officer Paré brakes suddenly, smiling and letting out a “hey hey hey”, which causes Mr. Angutigirk’s head to collide with the dividing window, mentions judge Jean-Pierre Gervais in his decision . The man is bleeding profusely and will have stitches. When his partner questions him about the incident, Officer Paré replies: “I didn’t think it was going to bleed like that. »
Once at the station, the police officer asks his partner to submit a false declaration and indicate in his report that there were children in the street to justify his abrupt braking.
However, police officer Paré was not at his first failure in this area. In 2017, he was brought before police ethics for “false or inaccurate statements” in the case of a 23-year-old inmate who died in his cell in the Montreal municipal court. David Tshiteya Kalubi suffered from sickle cell anemia and had not received the necessary medication for his illness.
The day before the death, Officer Paré and his colleague Dominic Gagné brought the detainee to the East Operational Center, after he was placed under arrest.
Mr. Kalubi informs the police of his heart condition as well as the medication he takes daily. However, the information is not added to his file by Officer Paré, who instead indicates that the accused has no particular medical problem. On the day of death, Officer Paré wrote his mandatory report provided by the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI). The report of the Police Ethics Committee indicates that Mr. Paré’s report “is silent as to the information provided by Mr. Kalubi relating to his illness or his medication. It does not mention anything concerning the detainee’s control sheet.”
However, when questioned by BEI investigators about the possibility that the detainee had disclosed information concerning his medical condition, Officer Paré replied: “If I said no, it is because I got the answer No. »
A version directly contradicted by videos, which prove that the victim had informed the agents of his health problem and thus that the information contained in the report was false.
No criminal charges have been filed against the officers. The Police Ethics Committee suspended the two officers for 22 days, after concluding that they had violated their code of ethics by submitting a statement that they knew to be false or inaccurate and that they had been negligent or reckless in doing so. with regard to the health or safety of Mr. David Tshiteya Kalubi.
The Montreal City Police Department confirmed that Officer Paré was still on duty.