Paramedic who tended to dying cop to face cross-examination in Bellefeuille murder trial

WARNING: This communicative contains graphic details of a convulsive event.

A paramedic's relationship of arriving at a fatal shooting that helium assumed was safe when in information the shooter remained on scene volition beryllium cross-examined this week successful the proceedings of a man who killed a constabulary serviceman and wounded 2 others during a wellness check in Bourget, Ont.

It's not successful quality that Alain Bellefeuille killed OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller and wounded constables Marc Lauzon and François Gamache-Asselin before dawn connected May 11, 2023.

In question is whether he knew helium was shooting astatine constabulary and whether he was acting successful self-defence when helium repeatedly opened occurrence connected them.

Bellefeuille is connected proceedings successful Superior Court successful L'Orignal for first-degree execution and 2 counts of attempted murder, and has pleaded not guilty. He's expected to attest successful his ain defence aft the Crown closes its case.

One of the archetypal four paramedics to get astatine Bellefeuille's house — Christian Larochelle, who was accompanied that nighttime by Stéphane Huppé, Yan Bellefeuille and Jean-François Fillion — testified connected Friday astir walking up to the house, reasoning the country had been made safe. 

Instead, Larochelle found Bellefeuille lasting connected the platform with his arms up. Mueller was bleeding retired successful the mudroom with Bellefeuille's loaded agelong weapon placed across his chest. Lauzon was connected his knees connected the lawn, and Gamache-Asselin was hiding successful the woods, reasoning idiosyncratic was trying to travel and termination him, the proceedings earlier heard.

Lauzon didn't reply Larochelle's questions astir whether the country was safe. His eyes were unfastened but his limb was torn open. Larochelle then approached the deck.

'He broke into my house'

More video from Mueller's body-worn camera was played successful court. It was covered by something, but Bellefeuille is heard saying, "A constabulary serviceman is down. A constabulary officer's down close here. He's breathing. A constabulary serviceman is down close present inside, travel in, travel in. He's wrong the house, he's breathing still. He's inactive breathing."

"Are you unsocial here?" Larochelle asks Bellefeuille.

"I americium alone."

"Is determination different officer?"

"He broke into my house. He came in, that's it. He's inactive breathing," Bellefeuille says.

"Don't move, don't move. Is determination anyone other successful the house? I privation you to measurement back, please. Please measurement back."

Larochelle testified that Mueller had mislaid a terrible magnitude of blood, and that helium knew the outlook for him wasn't good. He besides knew helium and the different paramedics weren't safe, but "at that point, it was excessively late."

They loaded Mueller into an ambulance, and arsenic Larochelle was astir to commencement driving, his spouse shouted that Mueller's bosom had stopped. They started CPR and continued with it for the 40-minute thrust to The Ottawa Hospital's Civic field trauma centre. But not agelong aft they arrived, Mueller was pronounced dead.

Still much video from Mueller's camera showed it being thrown onto the lawn.

Trial resumed past week aft pause

The proceedings resumed April 22 aft being adjourned for a week.

Last week, OPP Const. Justin Boyd testified astir heading to Bellefeuille's house successful Bourget after proceeding over the vigor that shots had been fired astatine officers, and astir the relation helium played successful searching the country and transporting Bellefeuille to an OPP detachment and Ottawa's Montfort Hospital.

When Boyd arrived, it was unclear wherever Lauzon and Gamache-Asselin were.

Mueller was successful the attraction of paramedics, and chartless to Boyd and different officers astatine the scene, truthful was Lauzon.

Confused, 'chaotic' scene

As Boyd and others started to speech astir however to find them, the concern became "pretty chaotic," Boyd testified. The officers yet lined up enarthrosis to enarthrosis and pushed into the woods to hunt earlier deciding the terrain was excessively hard for a wounded idiosyncratic to fell in.

As they came backmost out, Boyd recovered Mueller's body-worn camera lying successful the grass, inactive recording.

A video clip from the camera was played successful tribunal of Boyd uncovering it, successful which a gunshot is besides heard.

Const. Ionut Mihuta — who had arrested Bellefeuille — is heard asking, "You fired your gun?"

"Misfire! Misfire, misfire," says Boyd, speaking for his workfellow Const. Pierre Dubois, who had accidentally fired his agelong weapon into the crushed erstwhile successful show of Boyd.

"Check that way," Mihuta says. "Go successful a consecutive line! Shooter ready, OK? Safety off. Watch your shooting, OK? Watch your fingers," Mihuta says earlier the clip ends.

Bellefeuille repeatedly punched by arresting officer

More officers flooded the scene, and Lauzon and Gamache-Asselin were found, Boyd said. He was past asked to assistance instrumentality Bellefeuille to the Rockland OPP detachment.

In a cell, paramedics checked Bellefeuille for injuries and took a agelong clip examining a contusion connected his head. Court heard connected April 14 that Mihuta had violated constabulary protocol by repeatedly punching Bellefeuille while Bellefeuille was lying on the crushed being arrested and saying he didn't cognize helium had changeable a cop.

Audio of the melodramatic speech was captured connected Mihuta's body-worn camera.

Mihuta screamed astatine Bellefeuille: "I got this shotgun astatine your f--king head! Just f--king bash thing truthful I tin f--king sprout you, you portion of s--t!"

Asked astir punching Bellefeuille successful cross-examination, Mihuta testified that his emotions got the champion of him, and that helium didn't mean his menace to sprout Bellefeuille.

"I knew that Sergeant Mueller whitethorn not live. I knew astatine that constituent that wrong the adjacent mates hours, a woman volition get the worst quality of her life, that her hubby is not coming backmost home. Two kids volition beryllium orphans without a dad," helium testified.

"We don't sprout radical successful our jobs. We bash not. It's not, I wouldn't sprout anyone that is unarmed oregon thing similar that."

Emotional thrust to hospital

Paramedics yet decided to instrumentality Bellefeuille to infirmary for introspection and treatment.

During cross-examination of Boyd, defence lawyer Leonardo Russomanno played video footage from Boyd's body-worn camera depicting astir 20 minutes of the ambulance thrust to Montfort Hospital. It shows Bellefeuille from down arsenic he's sitting up hunched guardant connected a gurney successful lone his underwear (his clothing had been removed by paramedics), with his hands cuffed down his back. A paramedic tries asking questions, but nary discernable responses are heard.

Bellefeuille appears to outcry respective times, his shoulders bobbing up and down, and occasionally the paramedic places a manus connected his shoulder.

Justice Robert Pelletier instructed the assemblage to lone see Bellefeuille's physical and affectional authorities successful the video, which could go applicable successful Pelletier's final instructions for the assemblage before deliberations.

The Crown's adjacent witnesser was OPP forensic recognition serviceman Brittany Falls, who helped papers and catalogue the country and the grounds found. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the assemblage was shown photos of the mudroom with the blood-soaked level wherever Mueller was found.

Also shown was Bellefeuille's bedroom partition with 9 slug holes successful it (he fired astatine Mueller and Lauzon from wrong the bedroom), a container of ammunition successful his closet, his surviving country model with slug holes successful it, 2 OPP cruisers extracurricular with slug holes successful them, spent casings from Bellefeuille's agelong weapon wrong and extracurricular the house, and 3 spent casings from an OPP handgun successful the house.

Lauzon's sidearm was recovered to beryllium missing 3 rounds, Falls testified.

The proceedings continues Tuesday with cross-examination of the paramedic who testified Friday.