The court concludes that officer Jacob Picard, of the Quebec City Police Department (SPVQ), did not use excessive force when he pushed Mathieu Gamache in the Le District bar on October 16, 2021.
A video of the altercation showing the complainant violently hitting a wall had raised the indignation of many when it was broadcast in the media. Two and a half years later, the legal shadow that hung over the perpetrator of the act has dissipated: Jacob Picard is innocent of the charge of assault causing bodily harm that weighed against him, stated Judge Rachel Gagnon in her decision.
The inconsistencies of the prosecution, the fragmentary memory of the complainant who was intoxicated at the time of the events and the “coherent and free from contradiction or improbability” account of the defendant led the court to give credence to the sequence of events presented by the latter.
“Legitimate” and “reasonable”
The version accepted by the court is based largely on the video evidence and on the testimonies of Jacob Picard and three police officers present at the time of the intervention at the heart of the dispute. In light of their version, the court concludes that it was Mathieu Gamache who repeatedly refused to comply with the police officer’s demands, who ordered him to put on a mask in order to comply with the health measures in force at the time, then to calmly follow him aside to receive a ticket for his refusal to comply.
“The complainant stubbornly refused to comply throughout the hearing. Despite several attempts at communication by the defendant, the complainant physically resisted by pushing him, letting himself fall to the ground, holding on to the fence and, ultimately, grabbing his shirt,” the court explained.
Mathieu Gamache resisted and displayed a “provocative attitude” toward police officer Picard, according to the testimony of one of the five SPVQ officers present at the time of the intervention. “A reasonable person, placed in the same circumstances as the defendant, would have perceived an imminent threat to his safety and concluded that it was necessary to use force to make the complainant release his hold and move back to a safe distance,” the decision adds.
As for the force used to free Mathieu Gamache, the court found that the push was “compatible with the defendant’s objective of ensuring his safety,” and that Jacob Picard could not have anticipated that the plaintiff’s head would hit a wall. “Elements beyond his control, including the positioning of the plaintiff’s feet and the unevenness of the ground, contributed to this result,” wrote Justice Gagnon.
Mathieu Gamache says he suffered a mild traumatic brain injury that left him with significant after-effects following the police intervention. He and his partner are seeking $400,000 in a civil lawsuit filed against Officer Picard and the City of Quebec.
Relief in the police ranks
The Brotherhood of Police Officers of Quebec City applauds the acquittal of Jacob Picard, which removes “a sword of Damocles that has been hanging over his head for two years” not only, but also over the entire police force, according to it.
“When we see a colleague accused, it’s certain that we will tend to hesitate before intervening for fear of seeing our lives put on hold for years,” says police union president Martine Fortier. “Remember when it started circulating on social media, there were Mayor Marchand and the former Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, who intervened on Twitter to denounce these “disturbing” images and wanted to shed light on what had happened. It’s certain that it colored public opinion negatively from the start — I now hope that their reaction will be as quick after Mr. Picard’s acquittal.”
Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand had shared his concern over the videos of controversial police interventions that were circulating in cascades in the public sphere at the end of 2021. However, he reiterated his confidence in the police hierarchy and in the capital’s police force.
Although acquitted in this first case, other legal troubles await Jacob Picard. In addition to the civil lawsuit filed by Mathieu Gamache and his partner, the Quebec police officer faces another charge of assault, this one in connection with a forceful — and filmed — intervention carried out in November 2021 on Grande Allée. The date of this second criminal trial has yet to be determined.