Quebec's Police Ethics Committee has upheld five citations against Stefanie Trudeau, the ex-Montreal police officer better known as Officer 728.
The citation stemmed form the violent arrest of Julian Menezes in May of 2012 — charges which include lacking respect, putting Menezes' health and safety at risk, failing to identify herself, and improperly using a police car.
Four other citations, including her alleged use of racial slurs, were dropped — much to Menezes' disappointment and the disappointment of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR).
"This is a little bit disturbing. I think it's one of the flaws of the police ethics system we've noticed in many cases too. It has difficulties understanding racial bias especially implicit racial bias," said CRARR's Fo Niemi. "It tends to go for the easier, explicit evidence of racism or racial bias but more implicit, more subtle bias, it misses the mark."
One night in May 2012, Menezes was on his way home from a wedding when he encountered Trudeau in the process of giving ticketing a cyclist.
As Menezes and his buddies watched the encounter, Trudeau accosted him, handcuffed him, threw him to the ground, and put him in the back of a police car. At a hearing before the Human Rights Commission, Menezes testified that Trudeau and her partner called him a "f—ing Indian" and threatened to put him in jail — adding that as a "skinny bitch", he would be raped behind bars.
He also testified he was taken for a ride to nowhere in the back of the cruiser, during which Trudeau slammed on the brakes several times, causing Menezes, who didn't have a seat belt, to hit his head on the Plexiglas. That left him with facial injuries.
Last week, her former partner Constantinos Samaras, who remains on the force, earned a two-day suspension for failing to rein in Trudeau and her misconduct that night.