N.B. RCMP officer charged in 2021 arrest following Quebec police watchdog probe

A Campbellton, N.B. RCMP officer has been charged with assault in relation to an arrest last year, after an investigation by Quebec’s Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI).

The allegation stems from an incident in July 2021, when officers responded to “a report of a man wielding a stick and entering local businesses,” according to RCMP.

“When police arrived, the man resisted arrest and an altercation ensued between an RCMP member and the man,” a news release from July 2021 stated.

“The man declined medical attention and was taken into custody.”

Video of the altercation was widely shared on social media by different accounts.

A witness to the incident, Cameron MacDonald, told Global News at the time that he saw a young man coming out of the Tim Hortons with an officer holding him by the arm. He said the man was trying to get away, and the officer took the man to the ground.

MacDonald described what he saw after that as a “brutal beating.”

The matter was referred to the BEI and the officer involved was placed on administrative duties pending that review.

On Wednesday, the province’s Department of Justice and Public Safety updated the case to say the bureau had concluded there were grounds for criminal charges, and a summary conviction assault charge was laid on June 30 against Pierrick Caron.

“Evidence gathered during the investigation provided reasonable grounds to believe that an offence had been committed,” the department wrote in a news release.

“The bureau’s report was submitted to Public Prosecution Services, which determined that the evidence met the standard for prosecution.”

Caron is scheduled to appear in Campbellton provincial court on July 25.

— with files from Callum Smith and The Canadian Press