A Montreal police officer is being reprimanded after being photographed with a bare-shouldered woman on his lap inside a police cruiser.
The incident took place Sunday night when a passerby noticed a parked police car ignoring a driver going the wrong way down an alley near Ste. Catherine St.
The passerby, 19-year-old Leila Saad, then noticed a woman with bare shoulders sitting on the lap of an officer in uniform.
Saad it was clear to her they were engaging in sexual intercourse.
She also said that there was another woman with a different police officer in the back seat of the car, and that the cruiser's interior light was on, making the scene more visible.
Shocked by what she saw, Saad snapped a photo and posted it to Facebook on Monday.
“In a sense I’m proud of it, because you can see what police officers are doing, too. A lot of people think police officers are good people, but it’s clear that sometimes they aren’t thinking with their heads,” she said.
Saad posted the photo on Facebook on Monday, where it spread rapidly.
Police initially believed the photo was a fake, but another witness came forward.
Upon investigation, they tracked down the officer seen in the photo.
Police spokesperson Ian Lafreniere said little is known about the woman or women in the car.
“It looked like the female decided to go inside the police cruiser with the police officer. We don’t believe they knew each other. It looked like these females were coming out from a bar or something. What was the link, what happened exactly, we don’t know. We have no victim at this moment, it’s more a matter of inappropriate behaviour. We’re not talking about sexual relations, but really inappropriate behaviour,” said Lafreniere.
The officer under investigation has been with the SPVM for more than six years.
Lafreniere said this type of behaviour will not be tolerated.
Saad said she's certain that there were two females in the car, because after the police saw they were being watched, all four people exited the vehicle.
She has since taken down the photo, explaining that she's now receiving threats from people online for posting the photo and getting involved.
