A Montreal police officer best known by her badge number has been charged with simple assault in connection with a highly publicized arrest caught on video.
Stephanie Trudeau, who is known to many simply by her badge number of 728, is accused of assaulting a man who was standing outside of his residence while drinking a beer.
The video shows Trudeau forcefully arresting and assaulting Serge Lavoie. A friend of Lavoie’s filmed the incident.
After the arrest, Trudeau was quoted as saying that she thought she had done nothing wrong.
“It’s all A1,” Trudeau said. “It’s all legit.”
Trudeau was also recorded speaking about the incident in vulgar terms. Montreal police later held a press conference to condemn her actions.
Trudeau’s lawyer, Jean-Pierre Rancourt, says the fact that it took police two years to lay charges against his client shows “that there’s a problem (with the case).”
Trudeau also faced scrutiny in 2012 when a video surfaced of her pepper spraying protesters during the ‘Maple Spring’ student protests.
Agencies/Canadajournal