A driver who injured six people and damaged eight cars, during a 300-kilometer run that held several police forces in suspense, in June 2018, pleaded guilty Monday, at the Montreal courthouse, to 14 counts of charge, ranging from assault to dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Alexandre Brière was under the influence of methamphetamine during this incredible chase.
The destructive journey of the 40-year-old Trois-Rivières man began in Shawinigan, when he punched and kicked a parked vehicle and tried to injure a passerby who intervened.
He then grabs the car of a woman who has just dropped off her partner, grabbing the driver by the neck to steal her keys.
In his flight, he zigzags between the traffic lanes and hits the vehicle of another motorist.
Later, the fugitive was chased by police officers from L’Assomption, who received the report of the stolen car from the Sûreté du Québec. The chase lasts eight minutes, with multiple violations of the Highway Safety Code, before officers lose track.
A little later, Alexandre Brière found himself on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal, where he was driving in the opposite direction and collided with another vehicle.
The accused then gets out of his car, threatens the occupants of the other damaged car, and hits the driver to grab his keys.
He leaves with this new vehicle, still in the opposite direction to the traffic, and comes face-to-face with another car a little further on.
Brière tries to attack the motorist he has just collided with.
He then left on foot, stole a vehicle from the Indorama company and fled, breaking through a parking fence.
He is again chased by police as he tries to access Highway 25 south. The agents try to cause collisions to force the driver to stop, without success.
Other police officers take over to pursue the fugitive, who enters the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine tunnel, then on highway 20 to the east.
Once again struck by a patrol car, Brière finally came to a stop.
The two officers get out of their vehicle, pointing their guns in his direction, but the man decides to load them and gets into the patrol car, trying to escape again.
It was then that one of the officers sprinkled cayenne pepper. Then, another police officer arrived in reinforcement uses his weapon with electrical impulse (taser) to control him, finally.
Alexandre Brière should receive his sentence in April. His lawyer, Yan Primeau, tried to argue that the man had taken control, that he had stopped using drugs and that he was looking for a job, seeking clemency from the court.