A Sûreté du Québec officer has been charged in connection with the death of a five-year-old Longueuil boy in February 2014 during a police surveillance operation.
A second investigation into the incident recommends laying charges against 29-year-old Patrick Ouellet — specifically, a charge of dangerous driving causing death, which carries a maximum prison term of 14 years.
He was driving an unmarked SQ cruiser at more than double the posted speed limit — 122 kilometres an hour in a 50 zone — when he crashed into the car containing little Nicolas Thorne-Belance at the corner of Gaetan-Boucher and Davis in a residential neighborhood in the St. Hubert borough.
Thorne-Belance spent five days in a coma before he died.
An initial report by the Crown prosecutor’s office cleared him of any charges, but last November, justice minister Stephanie Vallée ordered a new investigation by independent prosecutors.
The report, written by former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Pierre Dalphond, lawyer Lucie Joncas and prosecutor Guy Loisel, was submitted to the Crown prosecutor’s office earlier this month.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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