Two Quebec City officers back on the job following violent altercations

Two Quebec City police officers will be back on the job as of Sunday after being caught in violent altercations and being suspended in November.

Videos of two separate altercations began being investigated after two other violent videos by the police force prompted investigations by Quebec's Public Security Ministry and the province's police watchdog, the Bureau des enqutes indpendantes (BEI).

A total of five officers were suspended by the police force on Nov. 30 as a result.

"The police officer who was under investigation by the Bureau des enqutes indpendantes will be assigned administrative tasks. The other police officer will be able to return to their regular duties," the watchdog wrote in a statement Friday.

One of the altercations, which happened on Oct. 17, shows a man being shoved through a doorwayand hitting his head on a wall, after police detained him for not following public health measures inside the District Saint-Joseph restaurant.

In the other, from Nov. 20, a police officer is heard swearing and threatening to pepper-spray a man on Grande Alle Street before shoving them into a police car.

Public Security Minister Genevive Guilbault had asked the BEI to investigate whether the actions in the videos involving the two officers warranted criminal charges.

One of the two officers, spotted in both of the videos, was also being investigated by the police service's professional standards unit for possibly committing a criminal infraction.

Other police officers involved in violent altercations back on the job

The Quebec City police had previously suspended three other officers who were involved in violent altercationswith two young Black people outside a downtown nightclub one night in late November.

They returned to their regular duties on Dec. 20 following investigations by the service's professional standards unit, the BEI said.

Although the five officers being investigated as a result of the videos have returned or are in the process of doing so, the investigation by the Police Ethics Committee and the criminal investigation by the BEI are still ongoing.