MONTREAL – Former Montreal police officer Stefanie Trudeau, better known by her badge number 728, is appealing her assault conviction.
Trudeau was found guilty of assault in February, in relation to a violent arrest in October 2012.
READ MORE: Officer 728 found guilty of assault in violent arrest
The incident started with a man drinking beer outdoors. Officer Trudeau and a trainee approached Rudi Orchiette and asked him to identify himself. After he asked why the officer forcibly restrained him, stating that he refused to identify himself.
The incident was caught on cellphone video by a friend of Orchiette’s, Serge Lavoie, who is heard insulting the officer. Trudeau then chased Lavoie and caught up to him in a stairwell on Papineau Avenue, where she arrested him.
The judge ruled that Trudeau had used excessive force when she arrested Lavoie. She was suspended shortly after the incident and quit the force in September 2015.
READ MORE: Controversial Montreal police officer – Badge 728 – arrested: reports
Jean-Pierre Rancourt, Trudeau’s Lawyer, confirmed that he filed the necessary paperwork to launch an appeal last week.
Rancourt argues that the presiding judge, Daniel Bedard, erred when he sided with the testimony of the complainants, rather than the seven police officers who testified during the trial.
Rancourt also said that the judge should have taken into account the fact that the Crown dropped charges against the three complainants, in exchange for testimony against his client.
Sentencing is expected to take place in May.
*With a file from La Presse Canadienne
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