Alain Bellefeuille’s physical and emotional state after he killed Sgt. Eric Mueller was on full display at his first-degree murder trial Wednesday.
The jury was shown a police bodycam video capturing Bellefeuille’s 20-minute ambulance ride from the OPP Rockland detachment to Montfort Hospital just after 5 a.m. on May 11, 2023.
At the Rockland detachment, paramedics treated Bellefeuille in a cell as officers watched from the hallway.
One of the officers was Const. Justin Boyd.
When paramedics said Bellefeuille needed to go to hospital, Boyd asked why, recalling on the stand he didn’t see any severe injuries that required medical attention.
Paramedics thought otherwise and transported Bellefeuille to hospital. Boyd sat in the ambulance and his bodycam video was shown to the jury on Wednesday.
In the 20-minute video, Bellefeuille is cuffed behind his back, sitting up and hunching forward on the gurney while wearing only his boxers as a paramedic treats his injuries.
Bellefeuille cries at times, and when the paramedic asks questions, he is sometimes unresponsive or gives short, quiet answers.
Boyd revealed this under cross-examination by defence lawyer Leo Russomanno on Wednesday.
Boyd, who responded to the scene after the events, didn’t know that arresting officer, Ionut Mihuta, had punched Bellefeuille about the head.
The paramedics transported the handcuffed Bellefeuille to hospital with Boyd in the back of the ambulance. In the ride to hospital, captured on bodycam, Boyd is seen using his left hand to make notes in his duty book about what he recalled happened in the day in question.
The jury was shown photographs of Bellefeuille at the hospital.
In the pictures, there are abrasions on Bellefeuille’s forehead and face. He also has red marks on his back, as well as blood and a burn on his right elbow.
He also has a wound to the back of his head. The arresting officer who punched up his head while Bellefeuille was handcuffed said emotions got the best of him after his “brother” was gunned down.
Bellefeuille is on trial for the killing of OPP Sgt. Eric Mueller and shooting of Const. Marc Lauzon, after a wellness check gone wrong. They were gunned down within seconds of entering his home in Bourget, around 50 km east of Ottawa.
That Bellefeuille shot the officers is not in question. His defence team — Leo Russomanno and Biagio Del Greco — say Bellefeuille thought it was a home invasion, while the police theory, since adopted by prosecutors, is that it was an ambush that had the accused lying in wait to kill police officers.
But Bellefeuille, the jury has heard, never called the police, nor expected them, let alone at 2:30 in the morning. His next-door neighbour called 911, saying she thought she heard gunfire and Bellefeuille may have shot himself. (He didn’t).
She made the call out of concern for her neighbour.
Bellefeuille will testify in his own defence, even though he’s not obligated. The jury has heard Bellefeuille is anxious to testify about the events that haunt him.
So far, the jury has heard multiple times Bellefeuille didn’t know they were police, and thought they were home intruders. He told the dispatcher when he called 911 after the shootings, he told the arresting officer and paramedics.
Sgt. Mueller and Const. Marc Lauzon arrived at the wellness check for a potential suicide call and first went to the front porch with their flashlights. They didn’t knock or announce their presence as police.
The two officers then went to the back of Bellefeuille’s house and shined their lights in the window and knocked on the door closest to the bedroom. Again, the officers did not announce themselves as police.
Then the officers, according to bodycam video shown in court, return to the front porch and announce themselves as police while entering through the unlocked front door.
Seconds later, Bellefeuille, roused from sleep, shoots blindly through his bedroom walls, after seeing shadowy figures with flashlights, and one with a gun, the jury heard.
Lauzon was the officer who went in first, announcing police and calling out Alain by name twice. Lauzon had his pistol drawn as he entered the door for the mental-health call. Mueller’s pistol never left its holster and was gunned down in seconds.
The OPP’s mobile crisis response team, which includes health professionals, is designed to de-escalate at wellness checks.
That unit didn’t work the night shift.
