The trial of Corporal Jason Archer and Constable Francesca Bechard, who are each facing assault charges in connection with events that took place in the fall of 2020, begins Monday in Yellowknife.
Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers have pleaded not guilty and are still assigned to the Yellowknife Detachment.
The cases were made in August 2021, after an incident on October 14, 2020, when police put Tracella Romie in a cell.
According to court documents, employees of a liquor store in Yellowknife called the RCMP that night after allegedly hurting Ms. Romie to the site workers. He was quickly arrested and charged with two counts of assault and one count of mischief.
The 25-year-old woman explained in January 2021 at CBC that he was placed in the back seat of a car from RCMP by two officers and taken to the detachment office, where he was also detained by two other officers.
Tracella Romie explained that she was drunk and remembered little about that night. He recalled, however, coughing up blood and officers placing his handcuffed hands in the air, in a painful position.
When he was released, he went to a relative’s house and noticed that he had bruises on his back, shoulders and wrists.
I remember being in a cell for 14 or maybe 16 hourshe says.
The Whatı̀ community resident had thought of filing a complaint against the police, but eventually gave up.
Police said the incident was reported by a senior Yellowknife Detachment officer and that the officer in charge of the detachment had requested a criminal investigation. It is led by RCMP of Alberta, both as an external police agency and as an independent police force.
The investigation was handed over to the Crown Attorney’s office for analysis, according to a statement from the court. RCMP. The Crown then recommended placing formal charges.
The trial of the two NWT officials will continue in the Territorial Court for five days.
There is information from Hilary Bird
Source: Radio-Canada
