Two SPVM officers suspended for unprofessional behavior caught in viral video

SPVM officers Jason Richer and Marc Berthiaume have been suspended for unprofessional behavior in a May, 2014 incident that was caught on video.

Two Montreal police officers have been suspended over an incident captured in a viral video that appears to show them flirting with two women while on duty.

According to a ruling by the SPVM’s ethics commission, officers Marc Berthiaume and Jason Richer Richer “did not comport themselves in a manner that preserves the public’s confidence” in their ability to do their duties during an incident on May 27, 2014.

The two were patrolling downtown that night when, at around 1:50 a.m. they stopped at a bar terrace on St. Laurent Blvd. south of Sherbrooke.

They began speaking to two women seated on the terrace, one of whom was 17-years-old at the time, and after a few minutes, the women followed them back to their car. Once there, the women complained of sore feet and asked to sit in the car.

Photos and video show one of the women sitting on the lap of one officer lap in the front seat.

According to the ethics report, the officers and women talked for about 20 minutes before the officers left to respond to a call, but not before giving their phone numbers to the women.

At 2:52 a.m., the officers met up with the women again, this time at a depanneur at the corner of Sherbrooke and St. Laurent. The women were seated in the younger woman’s car. A depanneur employee said the women were in a very drunken state and witnesses commented on the officers’ unprofessional behavior.

The committee recommended a two-day suspension for both officers for inappropriate conduct and an additional seven days for Richer for not verifying that one of the women was sober enough to drive.

Berthiaume and Richer have 30 days to appeal the suspension.