No charges will be brought against Saguenay police officers involved in a fight at a Stoneham campsite, the Department of Law and Enforcement (DPCP) ruled on Wednesday morning.
“They told me they could not positively identify the person who hit me,” said the Lac-Saint-Jean man who had filed charges of assault and assault against the group of people.
“And for the person who held me while I received the beatings, the prosecutor decided there was no reason to press charges against him.”
He said he intervened with disruptive revelers at the campsite in August 2021. He would have politely asked them to keep their noise down when a member of the group, possibly intoxicated, posing as a police officer, lunged at him.
He is said to have hit him while another person was holding him.
“I have told the investigator that I do not understand that if you ask someone to let go of you while you are being beaten, it is not a criminal offense,” added the complainant, who preferred to remain anonymous.
“I was panicking, I had a shattered eardrum, I was expecting to eat more shots.”
Anyone who has ever suffered a concussion and had a perforated eardrum is of course disappointed by this decision, but not necessarily surprised.
“We’re talking about a year of investigation, serious bodily harm, there’s also a video, so there’s a lot of evidence, but in the end nothing,” he said.
“To be honest, police are investigating, I didn’t expect anything. There is no one who deserves to be hit in life. It’s 2022. It’s unnecessary violence.”
The owners of the campsite, who intervened and contacted the police, reacted in the same way when TVA Nouvelles reached them by phone.
Saguenay Police Department management said they had been briefed on the decision in a press release sent out Wednesday afternoon.
She specified that in the event of one or more violations of the Disciplinary Code of the City of Saguenay Police Officers, she will take the necessary action against the employee(s) concerned.
The plaintiff, who primarily records the moral consequences of these events, has lost confidence.
“I stayed scared,” he admitted. “I’m always afraid of being recognized by a police officer. I fear reprisals. It’s a weird feeling. Yes, I’ve lost confidence, but I have a lot of police friends. When something like that happens, it’s hard to trust the system.”
He is seriously considering the possibility of taking civil action against those responsible for the attack he suffered, but with no names and no charges it will be difficult.