Three police officers who allegedly abandoned a paralyzed woman on a sidewalk in Ahuntsic at the end of September were arrested for serious assault and failure to assist a person in danger during the investigation by the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI).
This procedure is very rarely used by police, but was deemed necessary due to the seriousness of the charges, it has been learned. The Press. The three police officers, two agents and a sergeant, received a warning from BEI investigators, that is to say they were temporarily arrested, and given the right to silence and the right to the lawyer.
They will appear by summons if a prosecutor concludes, once the investigation is complete, that criminal charges should be filed.
In addition to the serious assault alleged, the other article of the Criminal Code mentioned during the arrest refers to the obligation, for an officer who detains an individual, to provide assistance.
“The BEI will not issue any comments until the investigation report is submitted,” the organization limited itself to saying.
According to two sources, one of the police officers had only a few months of experience with the City of Montreal Police Service, while the other two had several years of service. After their arrest and interrogation, they were released and assigned to administrative tasks.
The Brotherhood of Police Officers of Montreal did not want to comment on the situation.
The Press reported Tuesday the testimony of six eyewitnesses disturbed by the way in which the woman was left on the public highway, in front of the HLM where she lived, around 4:35 p.m. She had been arrested an hour earlier in front of her school. child, with whom he was forbidden to come into contact.
The woman was able to move normally before being arrested by the police. It was during her transport in the police car that she complained of no longer feeling her limbs, according to preliminary information published by the BEI.
She was then allegedly physically removed from the vehicle by the police and left on the sidewalk.
More than an hour of waiting
“They took the lady out of the car, they dragged her in pairs, as if you were throwing away your trash. They left her like that,” described a witness, Vanessa César. “The policeman didn’t care about the lady,” said another, Entela Duka.
They left her like a dog. The police left.
Entela Duka, witness to the scene
All the witnesses with whom The Press was able to speak on Monday expressed their surprise as to the response time of the paramedics.
Tuesday, Urgences-santé indicated that 1 hour 3 minutes had actually passed between the first call to 911 and the arrival of an ambulance on site. During this period, at least six calls to emergency services were made, added Stéphane Smith, spokesperson for Urgences-santé.
However, those calls – except the last one – did not include information alarming enough for the call to be prioritized, Smith said.
“The first call came in at 4:50 p.m. to our house for a person with hand pain. Normal breathing, fully awake, no blood, no difficulty breathing according to what is said,” he detailed. A non-urgent priority code has been assigned. Four other calls to 911 followed, without this code being changed.
“At 5:47 p.m., we have new information which tells us that the person is semi-conscious and that he does not feel his limbs,” continued Mr. Smith. An ambulance arrived on scene six minutes later.
These events will be subject to review, he said.
The troubled elected officials
On Tuesday, the offices of the mayor of Montreal and the Minister of Public Security of Quebec communicated their dismay at the images of the police intervention.
“The information reported in The Press this morning are deplorable,” said Valérie Plante’s team in a written statement.
No one should be left in these conditions, to their own devices, on the sidewalk.
Valérie Plante, mayor of Montreal
“We do not have all the details on the sequence of events,” however, clarified the mayor’s office. “The Office of Independent Investigations is on the case, several questions deserve to be clarified to shed full light on the circumstances of the event. »
In Quebec, the Minister of Public Security also expressed his concern.
“What we see on the video and the facts reported by The Press, if proven, are shocking,” said François Bonnardel, in a written statement. “My thoughts are first and foremost with the citizen. »
“We have mechanisms, such as the BEI and the Police Ethics Commissioner, which carry out investigations when required to shed light on the situation, we will not make any further comment at this time,” the statement added.