A Sureté du Quebec officer is on trial for manslaughter.
Eric Deslauriers is charged with killing a 17-year-old in Ste. Adele on Jan. 22, 2014.
Deslauriers was on patrol on that day when he responded to a call about a stolen car spotted at Augustin Norbert Morin high school.
The officer arrived at the school, saw what appeared to be the stolen vehicle, and ordered David Lacour to get out of the car with his hands up.
What happened next is now the subject of this trial.
According to the prosecution, the police officer shot the teen because he was trying to escape.
The defence says Deslauriers pulled the trigger because he was afraid that Lacour would run him over with the car.
The first witness to testify at the St. Jerome courthouse was a high-school student, 13 at the time of the death.
She testified that she heard Deslauriers twice order Lacour to get out of the car. He accelerated instead.
The witness then heard a gunshot and started filming the scene with her phone.
With many people panicking, the girl kept filming as the car ran into a snowbank, and Deslauriers eventually tried to give first aid to the driver.
A second student testified that he also thought the driver wasn't cooperating with the orders from police.
Then a third witness, the vice-principal of the school, confirmed the earlier testimony that Lacour first raised his hands when ordered to, but that he put his hands back on the steering wheel and sped off before the gunshots rang out.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
