Head-on collision kills 2 on Highway 40, BEI investigating

FILE: A Surete du Quebec police car is shown. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Two people are dead after a head-on collision on Highway 40 near Saint-Barthélemy in the Lanaudière region on Sunday.

According to the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI), Quebec's police watchdog, the incident began at 2:40 p.m. when Repentigny police issued a notice for a suspicious vehicle.

About 30 minutes later, a police officer with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) located the vehicle, with two people inside, heading eastbound on Highway 40 in Lanoraie.

Two police cruisers followed the vehicle for a time without alerting attention to themselves.

"A few kilometres later, one of the officers turned on his flashing lights, but the vehicle continued eastbound," the BEI's report states. "As a result of various manoeuvres, the vehicle involved swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with another vehicle, also with two people inside, at 157 km in Saint-Barthelémy."

The two individuals in the suspect vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene.

The people in the other vehicle were taken to hospital to be treated for various injuries, but their lives are not considered to be in danger.

Six BEI investigators have been assigned to the case, with support from Montreal police (SPVM).