LA PECHE, QUE. -- Police in western Quebec say what started as an investigation into an assault led to more than a dozen COVID-19 tickets as officers broke up a cottage party.
MRC des Collines police said in a Facebook post that offers were called to a home in La Pêche, Que. on Saturday night after a 34-year-old man said he had been assaulted at a nearby cottage.
On the way to meet the victim with paramedics, police said officers stopped a car with five people in it, all from Ottawa, who had just come from a cottage. It was 1:40 a.m., so everyone in the car was ticketed for breaking the provincial curfew.
When officers arrived at the assault victim's home, they learned he had taken a snowmobile to the cottage and came back injured. Paramedics then took him to the hospital—the man's injuries were not life-threatening—while police continued the investigation.
Given the time of day and the location, police followed the tracks of the vehicle they had previously stopped, which led them to a cottage where they found nine people between the ages of 19 and 23.
At this point, police said they learned that the assault victim had come to the party uninvited, stripped off all of his clothes and attempted to join some women in the hot tub. The incident was recorded on the cottagers' phones and showed to the officers. The uninvited man was allegedly assaulted while trying to get into the house, police said.
Police said this entire investigation ended with more than a dozen fines between everyone involved: five to the people in the car for breaking curfew, nine to the people at the cottage for having a private gathering in contravention of the region's lockdown rules, two fines to the assault victim for breaking curfew and disturbing the peace, and one fine to a woman who lied about her identity.
