Death of a pedestrian in Saint-Michel | “I’ve been screaming for almost a year”

For four months, Cuma Kaya went every day to the street corner where his 22-year-old daughter was fatally struck by a truck that failed to stop at a required stop. And today, not only does the pain not disappear, but above all, the answers are lacking. “I’ve been screaming and screaming for almost a year. My throat is dry. »

The relatives of Dilan Kaya, this young woman caught last summer in the Saint-Michel district, are today asking for “real reparation”. Since her death, the victim’s family is no longer the same, but above all, she says she feels “abandoned by the system”. She plans to take legal action to get justice.

A little less than ten months after the events, Dynar and Cuma Kaya, Dilan’s brother and father, are still struggling to find answers to their questions. In his report, coroner Jean Brochu concluded that the death was “accidental”, recalling that the victim was in the blind spot of the truck.

That said, the coroner cites certain actions of the driver as potential causes of Dilan Kaya’s death, including the fact that he had not come to a complete stop and that he was in a zone prohibited for heavy vehicles. . The victim was struck on June 22, while taking a pedestrian crossing, at the corner of rue Bélair and 22^e Avenue, in the Saint-Michel district.

However, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) has not filed any charges. A decision that is difficult to explain by Dynar Kaya.

“We would like to know why the driver was not charged. The only thing we were told was that it was an accident. » This conclusion, however, does not fit well with some of the coroner’s conclusions, believe the two bereaved men. “The driver wasn’t supposed to be there,” says Dynar. You know you’re not supposed to be there, at least make your stops, make your blind spots. »

Read our file “A death without consequences”

The Montreal City Police Department has since clarified that its “oath of secrecy” prevented it from commenting on specific cases, but that, “in general, so that criminal charges can be filed at the “Where a driver is involved in a collision, investigators must have reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offense has been committed.”

“We want real reparation”

“I’ve been screaming and screaming for almost a year. My throat is dry,” breathes Cuma Kaya, not without emotion. “I stayed there for four months. The fifth month I was hospitalized. But still, I’m not giving up. I want answers,” persists the father, visibly shaken.

Read the article “Red flags, drama and an inconsolable father”

In addition to persistent pain, the two men live every day with a deep feeling of injustice, they deplore. They were offered compensation by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), “peanuts,” says Dynar.

“They are trying to close this case with minimal compensation. We don’t want to know anything about taking it […] we want real reparation,” he says. “The problem is the system. It doesn’t make sense, what we’re being offered. We try to stay strong, but it’s already not easy to lose a loved one so young,” he adds.

In recent months, the victim’s brother and father have notably considered the idea of ​​suing the driver involved – or the company he was employed by – in civil court. But each time, in their quest for information, they come up against stubborn refusals.

“Even today, I have no idea who the truck driver is,” says Dynar, for example. Is he still at work? We are not capable of suing him or the company. »

A well-received testimony

In their mourning, Dynar and Cuma also say they were deeply touched by the “call to action” launched last Tuesday by the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, whom they also felt “upset”.

In the press scrum, M^me Plante notably argued that the SAAQ, which does not plan to apply most of the coroner’s recommendations, must at the very least “be part of the solution”. “The truck had no business there, on a local street, it didn’t stop, and there was a woman who died. It’s hard to hear,” she said in response to our questions.

Read the article “Valérie Plante launches a “call to action””

Among the recommendations made to the SAAQ and Transport Canada, the coroner suggested, among other things, considering making the installation of “penetrating flashing lights” mandatory at the front of heavy vehicles as well as an external audible alarm to warn vulnerable road users in the vicinity.

In its response, the SAAQ indicated that if sound devices on heavy vehicles can “prove to be useful” in warning a vulnerable user of the intention to back up or turn, “too many vehicles equipped with a such a signal could cause this signal to be trivialized.”

By email, Transport Canada, for its part, affirms that the recommendations addressed to it will be “taken into account and carefully evaluated for future consideration”.