One Montreal police officer thrust in this difficult situation recently countered this trend.
Pierre Hawey's version of a contested event has resulted in sanctions against his partner James Joseph.
Montreal police officer James Joseph, who pepper sprayed two men five years ago outside of the Sex d'Or strip club on Decarie will be sanctioned by the Police Ethics Commission after his partner Hawey failed to corroborate his description of a late-night episode involving two men.
Constable James Joseph blasted Vasilios Kyritsis and Panagiotis Polimenakos with pepper spray on November 15, 2009 at about 3 a.m.
Joseph said he did it because Kyritsis was acting in an extremely belligerent and possibly dangerous manner towards him. He offered a narrative of events that justified his actions.
Constable Hawey told the commission that he only heard Kyrtsis make obnoxious comments to Constable Joseph.
Kyritsis started the evening drinking in Old Montreal with two friends.They ended up at the La Belle Province restaurant where cash was needed. So they walked to a money-dispensing machine at the Pub Pare next door.
On the way back Kyrtsis and Polimenakos were forced to walk around a police cruiser awkwardly parked near the restaurant.
Kyritsis, for some unwise reason, decided to berate the officer for his parking technique.
"It's private property, I don't think what you're doing is right."
The cop told him, "get lost."
Kyritsis said "Ok. It's private property."
Both cops told the commission that Kyritsis told him "fuck you, you don't know who you're dealing with."
This, perhaps understandably, irritated Joseph who then came out to ask the two men a series of questions. The cop attempted to prevent the men from returning to the restaurant and the situation eventually degenerated to the point where Joseph - without any involvement of his partner Hawey - sprayed the duo.
An ambulatory eyewitness named Fabian Andrew Spencer-Gibbs (That's a cool name, I want one like that- Chimples) later backed up Kyritsis's version of events.
Kyritsis was brought to a police jail cell until about 6 a.m. when he was finally told he'd be charged for resisting a peace officer. Four months later he received a letter informing him he'd be charged with assault against Contable Joseph.
Although it took over five years, the committee finally came down against Joseph whose punishment has not yet been decided.