The officer, a member of the Quebec provincial police, was travelling 122 km/h in a 50 km/h zone when his unmarked cruiser struck a vehicle driven by a man taking his two children to school.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said the fact the his political party was under investigation as part of a corruption probe at the time of the fatal crash, as reported by Montreal’s La Presse, had no impact on the decision not to lay charges against the police officer.
“A child died here. This is the main thing and the first thing we have to say. It’s the most horrible thing that can happen to a family,” he said.
“The second thing is that our chief prosecutor is a totally independent institution that should always remain independent of any pressure from the media or from politicians. This institution is going to take the best decision in the interest of justice.”
The La Presse report is explosive in a province that is just starting to recover from a two-year-long public inquiry into corruption. Based on a police report provided to Quebec’s director of public prosecutions, which made the ultimate decision not to charge the officer, it recounted the events of the accident on Feb. 13.
Three vehicles driven by Quebec’s anti-corruption force were in pursuit of a grey 2012 Mercedes in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil. Police feared their target vehicle was getting away from them in heavy morning traffic.
Around the same time, 8 a.m., Mike Belance was driving his son and daughter to school. Five-year-old Nicolas, was strapped into a car seat in the rear, driver’s side of the vehicle. Belance was trying to make a left-hand turn when a police vehicle struck his vehicle. The unmarked cruiser, which had slammed on its brakes, was going 90 km/h at the time of impact, according to the coroner’s report.
The accident came to prominence this week after the province’s public prosecution service announced it would not be laying criminal charges against the officer, information that was relayed to the family and later to the general public without any additional explanation.
Amid criticism that the police officer was being judged by a more lenient standard than a civilian driver, officials from Quebec’s public prosecution agency took the rare step of meeting with the boy’s family to explain their decision. Then they explained publicly in a news conference — an even more unusual incidence.
René Verret, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, said police are permitted under the law to drive beyond the speed limit if the circumstances of their work make it necessary. The fact that an officer was speeding, or that a child was killed, is not sufficient to support dangerous driving charges, he said.
The La Presse story, which cited a March 1 police report, said the surveillance operation was linked to a probe into corruption, breach of trust and illegal political donations involving elected officials, influential private business leaders and top provincial bureaucrats. The probe reportedly began in August 2013 and involved more than 70 witnesses.
Police believed that Robert Parent, who was director-general of the Quebec Liberals from 2003 to 2008, was going to meet with other suspects to ensure they provided similar testimony to the police.
Parent told the paper he was questioned three times by investigators about administrative and technical questions concerning the inner workings of the party.
But the report said he had become a reluctant witness and then stopped co-operating altogether in February 2014. Surveillance teams had been able to follow him throughout Montreal and, on one occasion, captured Parent meeting an unnamed top bureaucrat in an Italian restaurant.
Agnes Maltais, a senior member of the opposition Parti Québécois, said the police decision to place witnesses under surveillance suggests that former top Liberals have stopped co-operating in the corruption probe.
“To put someone under surveillance, the investigations have to be very important and involve serious crimes,” Maltais told reporters in Quebec City Friday.
“I don’t know if (Philippe Couillard) was aware of this, but I know one thing: There are leaders of the Liberal party that were aware and it is him, the leader of that party, that has to take responsibility . . . and ensure that they collaborate. There was a surveillance operation because there was no collaboration into serious crimes. It’s terrible.”
Source: thestar.com/
Author: Allan Woods
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