Police brutality of the day: cops shoot calf

Monday, October 31, 2011

(Warning: video is pretty disturbing)

A YouTube video of Gatineau police opening fire on an escaped cow has raised questions about their treatment of the animals.

Gatineau police said two cows were headed for the slaughterhouse when they broke free from a truck Thursday, leaving them no choice but to shoot them dead.

"The cops at one point have to decide if it's threatening for the population, is it too dangerous?" said Const. Pierre Lanthier of the Gatineau police. "They decided at one point they had no choice but to shoot the animal."

Gatineau police said they had the owner's permission to shoot the animals.
Ottawa CTV News
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2 comentarii:

Anonymous said...

Not the first time Gatineau police are accused of careless use of firearm:

Gatineau police officer faces 10 Quebec Police Act charges in 2008 shooting death
A Gatineau police officer faces 10 charges under Quebec’s Police Act in the shooting death of 35 year-old David Leclair in 2008 outside his mother’s home.
On June 29, charges were laid against Const. Pierre-François Blais by province’s police ethics commissioner. Blais remains on active duty.
“We all basically cried. It was at least one step in a positive direction,” said the victim’s sister, Donna Leclair. “This is a fight that we’ve been doing for three years now and it’s something that is very all-consuming. It’s our every breath, our every moment.”
Blais faces the following charges under Quebec’s Police Act:
Imprudent and reckless behaviour;
Using obscene or offensive language;
Displaying a lack of respect or courtesy;
Abuse of authority;
Violated Leclair’s Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person;
Using obscene or offensive language when dealing with Leclair’s mother, Dorothy Leclair;
Displaying a lack of respect or courtesy;
Two counts of excessive force;
Making threats.
The charges stem from the shooting that family members watched unfold outside David Leclair’s mother’s home in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau on June 28, 2008.
That day at least two officers had gone to Leclair’s home to arrest him in relation to assault allegations.
Family members who witnessed the incident said at the time that Leclair went into the house to get a dry shirt and was followed by the officer.
Family said a scuffle broke out inside the home and the officer used pepper spray and drew his baton.
Leclair’s mother, who also lives in the house, said she told the officer to leave.

She was ordered to the ground and was hit in the knee with the baton.

A coroner’s report said David Leclair was shot three times. The report described him as “violent” and “menacing” during the attack and found that Blais “feared for his life.”
Leclair was the youngest of nine siblings and had custody of his daughter Britney who was nine-years-old at the time of the shooting.
The shooting sparked a law suit three years later filed against the City of Gatineau and Blais. The $430,000 civil suit was filed on June 23, just five days before the three-year deadline for civil actions.
The suit alleges that the coroner’s investigation got its information from Blais and not the five witnesses who saw the confrontation.
It also alleges that Blais acted in an uncaring, illegal and abusive way by not waiting for backup, that pulling out his gun showed a lack of judgment and that he used excessive force and that he lost control of the situation.
The suit also alleges that the City of Gatineau employs a police officer who doesn’t care about people’s lives, did not give him adequate training and did not suspend him while they looked into the matter.
Donna Leclair said Thursday that she will not stop asking the Quebec government for a public inquiry, which they have been fighting for since February 2009, and wants Blais off the job.
“We don’t want him with weapons at his disposal being able to do this to somebody else and it shouldn’t happen in the first place,” Leclair said. “His job is nothing compared to a life

Anonymous said...

Regarding the david leclair shooting in Gatineau, pictures at the scene show the cop pierre francois blais dressed in military combat pants, leclair probably concluded that the Blais was an intruder storming into his house, Leclair probably wanted to defend himself and his family from a crazed intruder. The cop is at fault, he was wearing an illegal and confusing uniform and the cop can not claim that he feared for his life because he shot Leclair in the back. How can you fear for your life if the guy is not facing you.The cop should be charged.

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