The partner of the officer who shot and killed Fredy Villanueva was cross-examined for the first time Thursday at an ongoing coroner's inquest in Montreal.
Villanueva was shot when he intervened in a struggle in a poor Montreal neighbourhood that involved Const. Stephanie Pilotte and her partner, Jean-Loup Lapointe, as well as a group of friends that included the Montreal teenager's brother.
Coroner Andre Perreault, a Quebec judge presiding over the inquest, has previously heard that the two officers were being swarmed in a Montreal North park on Aug. 9, 2008.
Pilotte was involved in a struggle with Dany Villanueva -- the brother of the dead teenager -- when her partner fired the fatal shots.
Earlier this week, Pilotte said she heard the first shot and looked up.
Pilotte told the inquest that 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva was about a half-metre away from Lapointe when he fired two more times, and then a fourth shot. The shooting lasted about five seconds, Pilotte said.
On Thursday, Pilotte faced cross-examination for the first time at the inquest.
CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux said that much of the early cross examination focused on her knowledge of the Montreal North neighbourhood.
"She answered that she knew exactly that it was a multi-ethnic neighbourhood, a lot of visible minorities, very poor. She said crimes were generally about robbery, theft, drugs and assault," Giroux reported Thursday.
When asked if it was difficult to work as a police officer in that neighbourhood, Pilotte said that some people in Montreal North were hostile police. But she insisted that she always had good relationships with the people who live there.
Pilotte said she did not hold a prejudice against youth, or people from other ethnic backgrounds.
Villanueva's death prompted major riots in the city neighbourhood, with rioters torching cars, shooting a police officer in the leg, exploding propane tanks, looting stores, knocking down bus shelters and throwing projectiles at emergency vehicles.
The inquest is expected to continue to hear from witnesses until at least June 2010. It began in May.
With files from The Canadian Press
