That would be Stéfanie Trudeau, the sadistic Montreal cop whose violent arrest of innocent citizens last October led to her suspension with pay and considerable public outrage. She was also, of course, the star of a YouTube vid when she hosed down some students with pepper-spray during the mass protests last year.
Just as I was typing this, news has come that she has been arrested for allegedly uttering threats. This is not related to any of the other trouble she is in, which, as it happens, is quite a bit.
In case anyone was wondering what has been going on since October, it turns out that the two solitudes remain. Three days ago, Le Devoir carried a comprehensive update. There has been nothing in the anglophone media until a few short minutes ago.
In a nutshell, an internal inquiry was promptly conducted last Fall by the Montreal police, including interviews with 80 witnesses, and their report was submitted to the Quebec public prosecutor (Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales) in November. But the DPCP wanted some further information: it appears that a CBC Radio-Canada journalist had a tape of the good constable conspiring with two other officers to fake their notes. The reporter gave evidence in this regard at the internal inquiry, but CBC has been fighting a court order to produce the actual tape.
Hence the delay. There has been another odd wrinkle in the case, too: the bogus charges against the four victims of her vicious attack last Fall—assault, obstructing police and intimidation—remain. The Crown has “suspended” them but refused to drop them. Hence the four would not testify at the inquiry, on legal advice, because their testimony might conceivably be used against them.
On the other hand, the inquiry has now been widened to include the pepper-spray incident as well: Trudeau could face charges of armed assault when all is said and done.
So the bus is on its way, it seems, and soon enough she will be thrown under it. But will the Montreal police institution as a whole—which appears to breed these “bad apples” in profusion—come under serious scrutiny? Je suis sceptique.
