The police officers who arrested Jean Pascal on November 25, 2022 delivered a “false, misleading, even tendentious” version of the facts in court, according to his lawyer. The prosecution, for its part, accuses the boxer of having “feigned” to blow into the breathalyzer that night.
Posted at 5:09 p.m.
Pascal’s trial concluded Friday morning at the Montreal Municipal Court, with pleadings from each party. The boxer is accused of refusing to submit a breath sample after being intercepted by two patrol officers from the Montreal City Police Service while he was driving downtown.
First to plead before judge Stéphane Brière, Pascal’s lawyer, Me Sophie Beauvais, essentially insisted on the numerous contradictions highlighted in the testimonies of the two agents in question, Jérémie Gagnon and Dylan Gendron.
During close cross-examination, they saw several of the information collected in their report and their personal notes being refuted piece by piece by virtue of video images captured by one of Pascal’s passengers and by the security cameras of the Dunn’s restaurant, on Metcalfe Street, where the scene took place. The sequence of events, the number of tests administered (six in total) and Pascal’s actions during the intervention, in particular, were the subject of scrupulous examination by the defense.
“Worrying” testimonies, according to Me Beauvais, who was delighted with the existence of video evidence with sound, without which the police officers’ story would have been worthy of “a Charlie Chaplin film: silent and which tells a beautiful story”.
“We say that it happened was given to him.”
A “feint,” says the prosecution
For her part, the prosecutor, Me Aline Ramy spoke of a “behavioral refusal” on the part of Pascal, affirming that the latter had “feigned” to blow into the breathalyzer. Among other things, she wondered why the police could not obtain a valid result in six attempts when they were dealing with “a healthy professional boxer who says he blows at full capacity”.
“The reality is that Mr. Pascal does not want to breathe. The accused does not comply with a given order,” she insisted.
Me Ramy also praised the “patience” and “professionalism” of the officers who responded to the scene, adding that Officer Gagnon, who administered the six breathalyzer tests to Pascal, is an “efficient operator” of the machine.
As for the police officers’ version delivered to the court, the prosecutor spoke of “nuanced” testimonies and mentioned the fact that they did not have the “benefit of listening to the audio from the cameras again” when writing their report. to explain the contradictions noted during the trial. An argument that startled Judge Brière.
“But they had the benefit of being there when it was happening,” he retorted.
-“There is a difference between the absence of notes [dans un] notebook and testimony that contradicts a report and objective evidence, the magistrate later added. […] They are professionals who know that ultimately, they will have to testify! They are the executive arm of the state! »
“A circus beast”
A little earlier, Pascal had explained to the court that at the time of his arrest, around 3:45 a.m., he was returning from the Palma club, on Peel Street, with three friends. He claims not to have consumed alcohol at the bar, but says he drank two Red Bull vodkas beforehand, “ [son] drink favorite,” around 8 or 9 p.m.
Many times during his testimony, Pascal repeated that he remained “cordial” with the patrol officers. Above all, he insisted on saying that he had always intended to blow into the device each time Agent Gagnon gave him the order.
After the fourth test, Pascal asked to go inside Dunn’s to warm up. At the same time, “around ten” police officers arrived on site as reinforcements. After a fifth test, when Officer Gagnon again tells him that he hasn’t blown enough, and faced with the suddenly imposing police deployment that stands before him, Pascal then feels “a little intimidated”.
“I felt bad, I didn’t know what was happening. I heard another policeman laughing. I felt like I was being taken for a circus beast,” he said.
After the apparent failure of the sixth test, the police decide to arrest Pascal. When they are about to handcuff him, the latter asks if everything can be done outside since he does not want to be filmed by the other customers of the restaurant. The agents refuse, the two camps “argue”, then Pascal will finally be handcuffed outside.
“I didn’t resist, I was calm, composed. I have always been courteous to the police. People just wanted to do a show with me,” he said.
In cross-examination, Me Ramy notably presented him with a video where we see him grabbing the device and the police officer’s hands in order to breathe. Pascal explained that he felt that the officer wanted to take the breathalyzer out of his mouth as he was blowing. “I thought the policeman was taunting me. […] I felt harassed,” he said.
“I remained cordial because I know that with the police, we always finish second,” he said.
Judge Brière will deliver his verdict in this case on February 24.
