The trial of a Sureté du Quebec officer accused of killing a five-year-old boy in 2014 continued for a second day in a Longueuil courtroom on Tuesday, with the court hearing from bystanders who witnessed the incident.
Patrick Ouellet is on trial for dangerous driving causing the death of Nicholas Thorne-Belance.
Witnesses who testified on Tuesday said they saw Patrick Ouellet’s unmarked police car driving very fast on a residential street in Longueuil on the morning of the crash that led to Nicholas's death.
Several expert witnesses also testified including Denis Guirette, a retired SQ officer who supervised the operation Ouellet was taking part in the day of the crash.
The officers were working on a corruption case involving members of the provincial Liberal party. Ouellet was tailing Robert Parent, a former director of the Liberal Party of Quebec as part of a mission for the UPAC anti-corruption squad.
According to the Crown, Ouellet was driving his unmarked car at 134 kilometres per hour in a 50 zone.
Mike Belance said he was driving his children to school in St. Hubert when Ouellet’s vehicle struck his car. The impact was on the rear passenger side, where Belance’s five-year-old son, Nicholas, was sitting.
The boy died in hospital days later.
Guirette testified that the operation was in its early days and officers were trying to figure out the areas frequented by the suspect they were tracking.
He said officers regularly went above the speed limit, trying to catch up with the suspect, but when the judge asked Guirette if there was any urgency on the day of the crash, Guirette replied there was not.
The trial resumes on Wednesday and is expected to last two weeks.
