By Canadian Press

‘Boom, right in the crotch:’ Winnipeg officer says colleague pointed gun at her

Apr 25, 2019 | 11:53 AM

WINNIPEG — A female Winnipeg police officer testified Wednesday that a male colleague pointed a shotgun at her groin and said, “Boom, right in the crotch.”

Const. Danielle Prefontaine was in a parking garage at police headquarters after a night shift in May 2016, when she said officer Leroy Gold walked up to her holding a shotgun in one hand. He raised it towards her body — only a few inches away — and threatened her, she said.

“I really still don’t know how to take that. It wasn’t funny,” Prefontaine told court, holding back tears. 

Gold, who is no longer an officer, is on trial on charges of pointing a firearm and uttering threats stemming from two encounters with the female officer.

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Prefontaine, a 14-year member of the force, said after the first time she told Gold never to do it again. She also told her partner about what happened, but didn’t immediately report it to superiors.

“I went through a process of ‘I could have died’ to the implication of reporting another officer,” she said.

That November, Prefontaine testified she was on another night shift, writing up a report about items recovered in a break-and-enter investigation.

She leaned back in her chair to stretch when Gold came into the room, once again, holding a shotgun. She told court he put the weapon into her rib cage and said, “I know what you need.”

“I was just kind of frozen,” Prefontaine said. “I had my vest on, but I could feel it against me.”

She reported both incidents to superiors soon after and the professional standards unit investigated.

Gold’s defence lawyer did not get a chance to challenge Prefontaine’s testimony Wednesday. The trial continues Thursday.

Gold, who spent 15 years on the force, was put on unpaid administrative leave and charged in July 2017. Court did not hear details about why he is no longer an officer.

An officer in the professional standards unit testified that she pulled the records of shifts for the time period the allegations happened, as well logs to show whether Gold had signed out a shotgun on the days in question.

On one day, the records showed that Gold’s partner had signed out the gun, despite not being certified to do so.

Defence attorney Richard Wolson questioned the dates and whether the data could be considered accurate.

“Records are only as good as the people who input the information,” Wolson said.

He also asked how no other officers saw what happened, despite it being a busy time at headquarters.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press