Police sergeant pleads not guilty in cellblock assault case
Posted May 7, 2012 11:46:37 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An Ottawa police officer charged in the cellblock assault of a prisoner in 2008 has pleaded not guilty.
Sergeant Steven Desjourdy also chose to be tried by a judge alone, rather than by a jury. That trial is set to begin in September.
Desjourdy pleaded not guilty to a single count of sexual assault connected to the arrest of a woman in September of 2008. A publication ban prevents her name from being released.
The woman was arrested for public intoxication. A cellblock video shows her being forced to the ground by four male police officers. Desjourdy can be seen using a pair of scissors to cut off the woman’s shirt and bra.
Desjourdy was charged in March of last year. He’s been on administrative duty since the province’s Special Investigations Unit took on the case in November of 2010.
