A piece of skull thrown into the forest because it had “no value”: a sergeant from the Sûreté du Québec is today the target of a lawsuit from the mother of the deceased.
Nathaly Rivard’s life was turned upside down on the morning of October 8, 2021, when two police officers from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) showed up at her door. During the night, his only son, Thommy Whissell, 14, lost his life in a motorcycle accident in Saint-Émile-de-Suffolk, in Outaouais.
In the afternoon, Mme Rivard decides to go, accompanied by her partner and relatives, to the scene of the accident. There, she is “petrified,” according to court documents obtained by The Press : “The scene has received little or no cleaning. » She sees a long trail of blood as well as personal effects belonging to her son.
A few days later, on October 12, Mme Rivard returns to the place where his son lost his life. His partner then finds a piece of bone which turns out to be part of Thommy’s skull. “On the piece, hair corresponding to the length and color of Thommy’s,” we can read in the court document.
“Unpleasant exchange”
Without delay, Mme Rivard contacts the police. It was Sergeant Sébastien Plouffe, from the SQ, who arrived on the scene first. The latter, “insensitive to the situation”, affirms that it is not uncommon for human remains not to be collected when it is not a crime scene. “According to him, the piece of skull had no value for the police,” according to the account of the facts.
“Stunned”, the bereaved mother “raises her voice” until the arrival of another agent who shows “humanity and understanding”. He assures that the police will take the piece of skull.
The day after this “unpleasant exchange”, the funeral home contacted Mme Rivard to inform him of the upcoming cremation of his son’s body. She objects, explaining that a piece of skull was missing, and “asks that the process be postponed”.
On October 18, however, Mme Rivard was informed by the SQ that the piece of her son’s skull could not be found – before learning the next day that it had finally been found. She decides to go to the morgue, where the piece of skull is brought, which she finds in “poor condition compared to the one she had initially seen”. “It is notably covered in residue resembling dead leaves. »
Discarded without regard
Mme Rivard learned on November 8, after his son’s funeral, that Sergeant Sébastien Plouffe “would have gotten rid of the piece of skull by simply throwing it in the forest.” A year later, in October 2022, she discovered thanks to a request for access to information that the piece of skull was found “after hours” of research carried out by “numerous police officers” from the Investigation Unit. emergency.
Mme Rivard today criticizes Mr. Plouffe for having “deviated from the behavior that a reasonable police officer would have had in the circumstances”. She says she is “unable to mourn her son” and claims to be overwhelmed by depressive thoughts and haunted by nightmares.
She therefore turned to the Superior Court to demand $25,000 in punitive damages from Sébastien Plouffe. She also wants to obtain $135,000 from the court in monetary damages due to her inability to work since the tragedy.