The first of two trials initiated by the director of criminal and penal prosecutions against police officer Jacob Picard, of the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ), began Monday. The latter faces a charge of assault causing injury for violently throwing a person into a bar in the capital in October 2021.
The alleged victim, Mathieu Gamache, explained at length how this evening of October 16, 2021, which began with a Nirvana tribute show held at L’Impérial and ended in front of his home, with a bloody face, handcuffed and escorted by the police, turned upside down his life and his health.
On the witness stand, the father of two children aged 3 and 5 at the time, said he worked “between 50 hours and 70 hours a week” as a sales director for a lighting distributor. . This rhythm wore him down to the point of bringing him to the doctor. “From September onwards,” Mathieu Gamache said on Monday, “I had an incredible drop in energy.”
A doctor puts him on sick leave for two weeks and gives him medication “to avoid burn-out or depression,” he says. »
On October 16, 2021, Mathieu Gamache’s parents came down from Montreal to look after the two children. He and his partner at the time took the opportunity to go see the concert in memory of Nirvana with two neighbors, which the pandemic had previously postponed several times.
The show takes place at L’Impérial, in the heart of the Saint-Roch district. The next door belongs to the District, a bar which opens its toilets to the concert hall’s customers. This is where the quartet meets, shortly before 11 p.m. It is also in this establishment that Mathieu Gamache, a man without legal involvement, will have his altercation with the Quebec police.
The crown, represented by Me Marie-Andrée Veilleux presented five video sequences captured by District cameras that evening. It’s Saturday evening, the bar is full. Some customers dance, several others consume, many move around without masks. The images show no sign of tension inside the establishment when four police officers, all members of the GRIPP unit (Police Relations and Intervention Group for the Population), entered around 11:53 p.m.
Mathieu Gamache remembers that at that time, he had already drunk a few beers and shooters. “I wanted to party, it had been a long time since we had gone out,” he explained to the court on Monday. On the other hand, I wasn’t someone who tripped or bothered people. »
“I found myself on the ground”
As he remembers, the police stopped near him to tell him to put on a mask. “No one had a mask in the bar, I first said I wouldn’t wear one to dance. » Health instructions, on October 16, 2021, required the wearing of a mask inside public places.
“I then changed my mind [sic] to take my mask from my coat and I found myself on the ground, Mathieu Gamache told judge Rachel Gagnon. I have no idea how. »
A police officer seems “more aggressive” to him. The alleged victim said he began to step back, his hands at shoulder height as a sign of appeasement.
“I didn’t understand what was happening, I was dancing in a bar, I was going to take my mask,” Mathieu Gamache testified. I started to back away because I understood that there was tension. »
At 11:55 p.m. and a few seconds later, a camera films Mathieu Gamache being violently thrown against a wall before collapsing to the ground. The alleged victim says he has no memory of the event and claims to have only regained his senses once outside, his hands handcuffed behind his back, confused, and his upper body against the hood of the car. ‘a patrol car.
“No one tells me anything. I explain that I have children, I hear one: “I don’t care about your children”. I get angry, I find myself on the ground next to the patrol car. I received blows in the legs, blows in the ribs, blows everywhere. »
The police then escorted him home. He then, he described to the court, had a bloody face and a ticket for tumult in hand.
In cross-examination, the defense, led by Me Ariane Gagnon-Rocque, raised the possibility that agent Picard had asked Mathieu Gamache on more than one occasion to put on his mask, but that it was rather the latter who had shown aggressiveness by replying: “this is not a police force that is going to tell me what to do” and physically pushing the officer away.
“I’m not a fighter,” retorted the alleged victim. Could this have happened? Maybe, but it would surprise me greatly. »
“I still have symptoms”
The incident that occurred at the bar that evening would have left Mathieu Gamache with serious consequences. Frequent headaches, anxiety attacks, loss of sensitivity of an inch for a month: “I couldn’t bend over or unload my dishwasher,” the witness said. It was a dark moment, I started to be afraid of everything. »
The alleged victim says she is still suffering the consequences of this altercation today. “I still have symptoms, I’m still tired. My energy is back to 70%. My eye fatigue returns very quickly, I often have headaches. When I’m in front of a screen, it’s very, very tiring. »
Jacob Picard faces assault charges in another case, also widely publicized, where he allegedly shouted at an individual “Do you want me to gas you, my osti?” » before pushing him against a patrol car. This second trial, also opened following an investigation by the Office of Independent Investigations, has not yet started.
Mathieu Gamache also initiated civil proceedings against Jacob Picard, demanding $400,000 from the police officer and the City of Quebec.