Substance abuse problems, numerous criminal records and unclear statements: the credibility of Tobie-Charles Angers-Levasseur, a homeless man from downtown Montreal who claims to have been abandoned on the side of the road, has been tested by defense. The trial of two police officers accused of kidnapping, threatening and assaulting the homeless man in 2010 continued with the cross-examination of the victim.
Tobie-Charles Angers-Levasseur, now 38, was moved away from his usual area by police officers Patrick Guay and Pierre-Luc Furlotte on March 31, 2010.
They also allegedly threatened him with a gun when he was handcuffed. The two officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) were charged in 2018 with forcible confinement, threats to cause death and assault.
Tobie-Charles Angers-Levasseur’s cross-examination opened with several questions regarding his use of hard drugs.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
The accused Patrick Guay and Pierre-Luc Furlotte
Me Michel Massicotte, lawyer for Patrick Guay, questioned Mr. Angers-Levasseur about his consumption the day of his testimony. The victim admitted to taking small amounts of fentanyl twice a day.
“So you bought this when you were about to come to court?” “, insisted the lawyer.
“Yes,” replied Mr. Angers-Levasseur.
The homeless man claims that at the time he was allegedly mistreated by officers Guay and Furlotte, his consumption of cocaine and opiates was much higher. His addiction once cost him between $200 and $300 a day.
criminal past
Me Massicotte listed the homeless man’s entire criminal history. The 38-year-old has numerous criminal records of breach of conditions, breach of probation, drug trafficking and mischief.
“You said yesterday that you were not a criminal. […] You buy drugs on the street to use. Do you agree that this is a crime? asked the defense attorney.
” I misspoke. I should have said instead that I am not a career criminal. It is my substance abuse problem that leads me to commit crimes,” justified the complainant.
“You are not a career criminal, but you are a career wanderer, aren’t you?” “, added M.e Massicotte. An “inappropriate” question, judge Geneviève Graton decided after an objection from the Crown.
Fuzzy statements
The defense also scrutinized one by one the statements made by the victim during his complaint to the police at the time of the events.
In his original complaint, Mr. Angers-Levasseur said he was intoxicated at the time of his arrest. This is why he would have thrown a decorative shrub on the public road when an SPVM van was nearby.
However, he told the court on Monday morning that he only drank a few beers, the effects of which had worn off. “I thought about it and it was really out of displeasure that I had my money stolen that I did this,” he replied.
We would have arrested him after this misdeed. The supervisor in the police SUV seized a Sharpie marker, the victim alleges. According to him, he would have tried to write on his forehead.
The defense hounded him on this detail as well as on all his assertions during the complaint.
“You say today he took the marker, pressed your forehead and moved on. […] You would then tell him he looked like a fool because the marker didn’t work. There is nothing indicating that in your written statement, ”launched M.e Massicotte.
“Yes, I should have mentioned it before,” replied the witness.
Stormy relations with the police
Mr. Angers-Levasseur described his tense relationship with the police even before the March 2010 event.
Downtown police arrest him about 10 times a day and swamp him with fines, even though they know he’s begging and doesn’t have a job, he told the judge.
Some agents hurl insults at him in front of passers-by when he is looking for rue Sainte-Catherine, according to him. Others shout at people not to give him money by humiliating him.
“Don’t give him money, he’s a homosexual prostitute,” an agent even said to tourists who gave him a few cents.
Several threatened to “deport” him far from his sector.
“Other police officers were more courteous and simply told me to move,” he qualified.
The March 2010 event was the straw that broke the camel’s back, according to the testimony of the victim.
“What your colleagues did to me was unacceptable,” he says he told the neighborhood police a month after the events.