Arrests from ten years ago are once again troubling agent Sanjay Vig: The defense attacked the police officer’s credibility by scrutinizing his work. He has no ethical or disciplinary flaws, emphasizes the man who was allegedly the victim of an attempted murder two years ago.
Posted at 5:00 p.m.
Cross-examination of Sanjay Vig continued on Monday in the jury trial of Ali Ngarukiye, who is accused of trying to kill and disarm the SPVM agent.
On January 28, 2021, the police officer was hit in the head with a metal rod by his attacker. After a violent argument, he grabbed his weapon and seriously injured Sanjay Vig.
According to the Crown’s theory, Ali Ngarukiye planned the attack on the police officer three days in advance. He is said to have stolen vehicles by placing them at strategic locations.
Defense attorney Sharon Sandiford prosecuted Officer Vig over a 2018 arrest related to a traffic safety code violation. The police officer hastily handcuffed the motorist, who was slow to produce his identification, and removed him from his car, the defense suggested.
The scene, which was filmed by a surveillance camera at the time, was presented to the jury. We see Sanjay Vig and a colleague intervening with the driver in question.
According to Vig, the procedure was not brutal, excessive or violent. “If he had been cooperative, I wouldn’t have handcuffed him,” he said in cross-examination.
The defense asked him if he knew that the driver had visited a doctor the next day for shoulder, elbow and ankle pain.
Sanjay Vig says he doesn’t remember being informed.
“I have no blemish on my record,” Agent Vig insisted. “People can say many things when they are not happy with a fine. I never pushed anyone.”
The defense suggested that a citizen had complained about being called a “faggot” during another arrest by Sanjay Vig.
The police officer reacted violently. “I mean no disrespect, but the man is a liar. This is completely wrong, ridiculous and outrageous. “I’m not homophobic,” the police officer emphasized to the jury.
Everything he says are lies. [Cet homme] has serious problems. This man is fixated on me, he even called the media.
Sanjay Vig
The defense cited another incident from a decade ago in which Vig allegedly told a citizen to shut up. He denied being rude. “I don’t talk like that,” he answered Me Sandiford.
He claims to have no memory of this driver.
Two different versions
Mamadi Camara, a man in his 30s, was at the scene of the attempted murder after being arrested by Officer Vig on January 28, 2021. Mr. Camara was wrongly arrested in connection with the attack and then eventually exonerated.
Ali Ngarukiye was then arrested a few months later for the attempted murder of the police officer.
Police officer Sanjay Vig again defended himself on Monday for presenting a different version than Mamadi Camara during cross-examination. Despite his anger, he never got angry with Mr. Camara, he repeated to the jury.
“It’s boring when you tell him you’re a liar when you know he was on his phone. […] It’s like being mistaken for a suitcase,” he stressed.
Mr. Camara told the jury a very different story a few days ago. During his testimony, the man in his 30s told jurors he remained polite and calm. Sanjay Vig instead described an angry man who was screaming and had “knives in his eyes.” »
During cross-examination, he denied having had his hand on his service weapon shortly before the attack.
“I suspect that this driver wasn’t yelling that you were trying to convince him that he had a cell phone on him while he was driving,” questioned Me Sharon Sandiford, the defense attorney.
The trial, presided over by Judge François Dadour, continues this week at the Montreal courthouse.