Fredy VillanuevaThe Canadian Press
The police officer who gunned down Fredy Villanueva in Montreal North, fuelling riot and mistrust in police, waited a month before offering a written statement to investigators, who hadn't even tried to question him or his partner.
Mr. Villanueva's mother and siblings were in the front row Monday for the first full day of testimony at the inquest into the shooting death the 18-year-old, and they laughed incredulously at some of what they heard.
Lead provincial police investigator Bruno Duchesnes admitted he was dealing with two classes of witnesses when he took over the investigation of the scuffle in a park on Aug. 9, 2008, that led to the gunfire that killed Mr. Villanueva and wounded two others.
On group included several key witnesses, some with known gang ties, who were detained separately, taken downtown and grilled overnight to prevent them from fabricating a story.
The other group was the two officers. They shared an ambulance ride for a checkup at a hospital. They met with their union rep before provincial investigators had even been assigned to the case.
Unlike some of the other witnesses, the officers weren't asked for blood samples to test for drugs or alcohol. An attempt to see the disciplinary records of Constable Jean-Loup Lapointe, who fired the shot that struck Mr. Villanueva, was abandoned when the police service objected.
The investigators brought in from provincial police waited a month for Constable Lapointe's mandatory statement on the incident. He invoked his right to remain silent when they asked to question him afterward. They did not ask to talk to his partner, Constable Stéphanie Pilotte, saying her written version of events matched accounts from other witnesses.
"We knew the police officers would have to give written statements, they are honest people," Detective Duchesnes explained, provoking laughter, much of it from Mr. Villanueva's relatives. He later added that waiting for the statements was standard investigative procedure.
Prosecutors concluded last December that Constable Lapointe used justifiable force in self-defence.
The inquest, initially scheduled for last spring, was suspended by the original coroner, Judge Robert Sansfaçon, after the family and the two wounded men refused to take part. He said fundamental justice could not be served without them. They wanted the province to call a wider public inquiry and pay for the legal fees of the two injured.
The government, family and injured men reached a compromise. The government is paying for the lawyers and allowing the new coroner, Judge André Perreault, to decide the parameters of questioning. (Judge Sansfaçon stepped down due to ill health.)
The inquest promises to pose tough questions about Montreal police practices, along with the quality of the Sûreté du Québec investigation.
After the shooting on Aug. 8, 2008, Montreal police leaked word that a gang of 20 young men had surrounded the officers, thrown Constable Pilotte to the ground and choked her before Constable Lapointe saved her by firing four rounds.
Detective Duchesnes said he found little evidence to support that version of events. He also said he could not find the original source of the story. Alain Arsenault, the lawyer for Jeffrey Sagor Metelus, one of the young men wounded in the shooting, suggested Montreal police were running a misinformation campaign to shield the two officers.
"I think it's more to do with, people are on the scene, the incident has just taken place, people are told certain things, and the game of telephone begins," the detective said.
A friend of Mr. Villanueva who saw the incident said in a statement to police that Mr. Villanueva grabbed at Constable Lapointe's collar just before he was shot, and forensic evidence showed he was just 40 centimetres from the officer's pistol when the trigger was pulled. Mr. Villanueva was apparently trying to pull the officer off his brother, Dany, who was resisting arrest. It's unclear why the officers were arresting him. In their statements, the constables said the young men were breaking a municipal bylaw against playing dice on the street. The incident escalated from there.
Inquest testimony has already provoked anger among several participants.
"We want to know why the civilians were treated differently than the police," said Mr. Arsenault. "Were the police investigating the event, or investigating the victims?"
The two young men wounded in the altercation and the two police officers are expected to testify this week.