The trial of police officer Stéphanie Dorval, accused of assaulting a young Aboriginal man during an intervention by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), began Tuesday morning in Val-d’Or.
This is a rather rare case of criminal charges being laid against a member of law enforcement for actions taken in the course of their work.
As soon as the trial opened, videos were shown to Judge Anne-Marie Jacques of the Court of Quebec, setting the table in a very visual way on what happened on September 14, 2019.
One of these videos was made by the victim, John Andrew Fedora, a Cree man originally from Waskaganish, and another by a neighbor who observed the scene outside from the top of his apartment.
That day, police and an ambulance were called to an emergency in an apartment block in the city of Val-d’Or, Abitibi.
In one of the videos, a young man is seen being taken to a patrol car, handcuffed. The Dorval policewoman is obviously having difficulty taking him away, telling him to stand up, while the scene is cacophonous, other people shouting and shouting. Some try to approach the police.
A paramedic who testified on the first day of the trial described the young man as uncooperative. “He was pocketing potatoes. A young woman was also taken to hospital by ambulance, he reports, although she had no apparent injuries. It was she who asked to go there, said Denis Bilodeau.
The video taken by the neighbor shows that outside, Mr. Fedora stands near the patrol car and continues to film with his cell phone, showing no aggression.
The Dorval policewoman suddenly approaches him. He is pushed, but does not oppose resistance, summarizes the neighbor and brother-in-law of the victim. The agent snatches his phone from his hand.
It is possible that the images broadcast in the courtroom on Tuesday morning did not show the whole situation or the whole police intervention: the rest of the testimonies will make it possible to clarify this.
Mr. Fedora was charged with obstructing the work of a peace officer, but has since been acquitted.
Subsequently, the situation completely reversed. Mr. Fedora filed a complaint against the policewoman, for having tried to run him over during the intervention, which led to the filing of assault charges against Ms. Dorval.
The trial of the policewoman should last four days.