Two detective sergeants from the Service de police de la ville de Lévis (SPVL) were named before the Police Ethics Committee for firing a gun at the suspects during the arrest that took place nearly ten years ago in the parking lot a McDonald’s restaurant in Quebec failed to capture. a stay of proceedings.
Police officers Michaël Anctil and David Patry considered that the five years that had elapsed between the events and the filing of citations before the committee, in July 2018, constituted sufficiently excessive delay to require abandonment of the proceedings filed against them.
The filing of the citations comes from a complaint filed by a citizen with the Police Ethics Commissioner requesting an examination of the conduct of two Lévis police officers following the intervention that took place on March 28, 2013, in Quebec City. .
That day, Messrs. Anctil and Patry were engaged in a tailing operation on an unmarked vehicle aimed at arresting two individuals suspected of driving drugs.
11 shot
After seeing their vehicle in the McDonald’s parking lot located at the intersection of rue Bouvier and boulevard Pierre-Bertrand, in Quebec, police approached it, wearing civilian clothing, holding a gun, to arrest its occupants.
Then they tried to flee. Assuming the maneuver was dangerous, the police fired in their direction. Detective Sergeants Patry and Anctil fired nine and two bullets.
The projectiles hit both suspects Maxime Lemay and Philippe St-Antoine. When they left the hospital, they were tried and convicted of drug trafficking.
Following an independent investigation conducted by the Quebec City Police Department, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions decided not to file criminal charges against the two Lévis police officers.
This decision did not, however, culminate in the investigation conducted by the Police Ethics Commissioner in response to a citizen’s complaint.
The complaint in question was filed on June 4, 2013. It will take more than five years, until July 18, 2018, to witness the filing of two citations for MM. Anctil and Patry.
Unusual delays
In a decision made on April 8, administrative judge Sylvie Séguin, of the Police Ethics Committee, rejected the motion for cessation of proceedings filed by two detective sergeants in August 2019.
The magistrate acknowledged that delays in proceedings against the police were unusual. He further admitted that they were overwhelmed at some stage of the investigation, especially during the legal review of the file, which remained in the hands of a lawyer for nearly three and a half years.
However, says Séguin J., the excessive nature of the delay does not itself form sufficient grounds for ordering the permanence of proceedings. To get it arrangement of an ultimate and extraordinary natureplaintiffs must show that the delay incurred was excessive and can be attributed to the State.
No significant damage was sustained
They also had to show that they suffered significant bias because of this delay, to the point that the administration of justice will be destroyed, as this will have the effect of disregarding procedures.
Sylvie Séguin concluded that the delay did not compromise the right of Detective Sergeants Anctil and Patry to present a full answer and defense.
While acknowledging that the police experienced psychological distress seriously since the intervention on March 28, 2013, the judge has identified them is more related to the event than deadlines.
In collaboration with Yannick Bergeron
Source: Radio-Canada
