Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
National

Drunk Canadian Woman Charged In Louisiana After Wild Arrest Captured On Video

The Canadian Press, 02 Jun, 2016 12:44 PM
    A Canadian woman accused of creating a drunken disturbance and assaulting a police officer in front of hundreds of people in Baton Rouge, La., said Thursday she plans to plead not guilty.
     
    In an incident caught on video, Veronique Bourgault, of Repentigny, Que., was arrested Friday evening following the fracas at a busy Tiger Stadium.
     
    Bourgault, who said she was in Baton Rouge for a country music festival, admits she was very drunk.
     
    "It was terrible," Bourgault, 38, told The Canadian Press from New Orleans. "I was dancing with my boyfriend and a guy told me to rent a room."
     
    She said the comment — and another that suggested she was a prostitute — made her angry and she uttered an expletive at the man.
     
    "I'm not like this," she said. "It was my new boyfriend and we were on vacation."
     
    A police officer then went to grab her, but she didn't initially realize that's who it was, she said.
     
    Her arrest record obtained by The Canadian Press says Bourgault was at the Bayou Country SuperFest when someone complained she was making "sexual gestures" while sitting on a man's lap.
     
    "The complainant advised me that he had his 12-year-old daughter and his wife with him and that this was very inappropriate for this to be taking place," the sheriff's deputy states in an affidavit.
     
    When the officer told the couple to stop, they complied but Bourgault, who owns and operates a child-care centre in Quebec, allegedly harassed the family and started cursing and making vulgar gestures at them, according to the officer.
     
     
    At that point, the officer told the couple to leave. While the man complied, she refused, he said.
     
    "I then attempted to handcuff the subject...when she pulled away and attacked me," the officer states.
     
    Bystander video of the incident, posted on YouTube, shows a wild scene as the officer tries to escort Bourgault from the stadium. The woman, initially holding and spilling a bottle of beer, is clearly unsteady on her feet as the officer tells her, "Stop resisting, stop resisting." The video shows her tumbling down the stairs twice.
     
    "The subject then knocked me off balance (and) when I fell down the stairs, while on my back, the subject punched me in the face with a closed fist," the officer states in the affidavit.
     
    Another sheriff's deputy was able to help arrest Bourgault and take her into custody, where she was charged with public intoxication and battery on a police officer.
     
    "I can't believe how the police treated me," she said after watching the video earlier this week. "I have bruises everywhere."
     
    Bourgault was released on Sunday on US$4,500 bail. She is due back in court Sept. 19.
     
    Bourgault, a mother of four, is the CEO and owner of Garderie Coeur d'enfant daycare and preschool in Ste-Marthe-sur-le-lac, Que.
     
    She said she's worried the arrest will affect her business. She also said she was afraid after receiving a message from a "nasty" woman who told her to stay away from Baton Rouge.
     
    "In Canada it's not like this," she said.
     
    Her boyfriend, she said, has since returned to Quebec and, it appears, the fledgling relationship is over.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Tim Bosma's Accused Killers Both Guilty Because They Planned The Crime: Crown

    Tim Bosma's Accused Killers Both Guilty Because They Planned The Crime: Crown
    HAMILTON — The prosecution in the Tim Bosma murder trial says the jury doesn't have to decide who pulled the trigger because both of the accused planned to kill the Hamilton man and cover up the crime.

    Tim Bosma's Accused Killers Both Guilty Because They Planned The Crime: Crown

    Guilty Pleas In Cases Of Misuse Of Patient Records From Toronto Hospitals

    Guilty Pleas In Cases Of Misuse Of Patient Records From Toronto Hospitals
    Nellie Acar pleaded guilty to one count of secret commissions and one count of using a forged document, while Esther Cruz pleaded guilty to two counts of secret commissions.

    Guilty Pleas In Cases Of Misuse Of Patient Records From Toronto Hospitals

    US Teen Births Fall Again, Another Drop In Decades Of Decline

    US Teen Births Fall Again, Another Drop In Decades Of Decline
    NEW YORK — Teen pregnancies fell again last year, to another historic low, a government report shows.

    US Teen Births Fall Again, Another Drop In Decades Of Decline

    Justin Trudeau Pays Tribute To Tragically Hip Frontman Gord Downie

    OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is paying tribute to Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie — and leaving the door open to looking at the issue of fairness in ticket sales.

    Justin Trudeau Pays Tribute To Tragically Hip Frontman Gord Downie

    Grassy Narrows Teens Ejected From Ontario Legislature For Protest

    Grassy Narrows Teens Ejected From Ontario Legislature For Protest
    TORONTO — A group of teenagers from the remote Grassy Narrows First Nation were ejected from the Ontario legislature today for wearing T-shirts reading: "water is sacred."

    Grassy Narrows Teens Ejected From Ontario Legislature For Protest

    Parks Canada Removes Fee For Sweat Lodge Ceremony At Manitoba Historic Site

    Lower Fort Garry plans to hold three sweat lodges this summer, an ancient ceremony performed by indigenous people in North America.

    Parks Canada Removes Fee For Sweat Lodge Ceremony At Manitoba Historic Site