Paris police boss wants officers implicated in alleged rape of Canadian woman off force

PARIS – The director of the Paris police service says he wants the officers implicated in the alleged rape of a Canadian woman out of his department.

Bernard Petit made the remarks to French radio station Europe1 as authorities investigate two officers accused of raping the Canadian tourist at the city’s police headquarters.

Both officers from the elite police unit, as well as a third who’s considered a witness, have been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation that could take weeks or even months to complete.

READ MORE: 2 Paris police officers investigated in suspected gang rape of Canadian tourist

French media have reported a 34-year-old Toronto woman met the off-duty officers in a bar last week and later went with them to their workplace.

As she left the station, she reportedly told another police officer she’d been raped, but a lawyer for one of the suspects told The Canadian Press the sex was consensual.

The radio station says the police director refused to discuss the criminal allegations, but is reporting he said it’s clear there’s no longer a place for any of the officers on his force.

Petit also says they should have never have let someone from the outside into the headquarters.

The police station, on an island in the Seine River, is home to the noted anti-gang SWAT team and is often referred to in France simply by its address: 36 Quai des Orfevres.

Sebastien Schapira, a lawyer for one of the officers, has denied his client did anything wrong.

READ MORE: 3 Paris cops accused of raping Canadian woman at police HQ

Schapira told The Canadian Press the officer had “consensual” sexual relations with the woman.

He said the Canadian woman has since returned home, but he believes she should be in France while the investigation is carried out.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced over the weekend the officers had been removed from their posts during the investigation. He also said a disciplinary inquiry within the force is already underway.