Judge sends city cop to trial

Christi Lafrance will be tried on an assault charge in the Superior Court of Ontario.

A preliminary hearing was held Monday for Lafrance, a constable with the North Bay Police Service, and Justice Jean-Gilles Lebel ultimately sent the case to trial.

The date will likely be set in assignment court Jan. 14.

Lafrance, now on sick leave, was charged in April in relation to an alleged incident Oct. 29, 2002, in which a man had allegedly been struck in the head area while handcuffed and in police custody.

She also faces charges under the provincial Police Services Act, but the charges were stayed until after her criminal proceedings end.

Three other North Bay police officers, including a supervisor, have already pleaded guilty to PSA charges relating to the manner in which the alleged incident was subsequently reported.

Former North Bay police chief George Berrigan had been subpoenaed to appear at the hearing today and was questioned by Lafrance’s lawyer Andrew Perrin.

Constables Alain Bedard and Joe Gardiner, two of the officers involved in the incident in which Lafrance was charged, also testified.

The victim of the alleged assault testified at the hearing too, but he cannot be named under the former Young Offenders Act because he was 16 at the time.

A court-ordered ban prevents all hearing testimony from being posted.

Perrin and prosecutor Tom Fitzgerald verbally jousted through much of the hearing.

Fitzgerald objected to Perrin’s line of questioning at some points during the proceedings and, several times, witnesses were asked to leave the stand while the two solicitors made submissions to Lebel.