The coroner’s public hearings into the death of police officer Maureen Breau, killed on duty last year, began Monday morning at the Trois-Rivières courthouse. This first day revealed that the parents of his attacker were worried about his mental health and believed he was in psychosis, even calling the police and psychosocial help three days before the tragedy, during which he was shot.
For four weeks, coroner Géhane Kamel will examine the circumstances of the death of the policewoman and that of Isaac Brouillard Lessard.
The investigation should in particular shed light on the way in which the judicial system treats those who are found not criminally responsible for their actions due to their mental disorders, but who are released despite their documented violence.
On March 27, 2023, Sergeant Maureen Breau of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) was stabbed to death. With three colleagues, she went to a rooming house in Louiseville, in Mauricie, to arrest Isaac Brouillard Lessard, who had just made death threats against his uncle.
The first police officer to enter Isaac’s one-room apartment was William Berrouard, who believed he had made contact with him during a previous intervention. When he explained that he was coming to arrest him, Isaac screamed and suddenly grabbed a knife, seriously injuring him in the head. Maureen Breau then rushed to his aid, but she suffered injuries to her neck, head and neck, which proved fatal. The man was shot dead by the two other police officers present.
The information sent on Monday by investigator Patrick Michaud, from the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI), made it possible to answer this question: did the police know that they were showing up that day at the home of a person who had a history of violence and mental disorders or were they caught off guard?
His testimony, which provided a portrait of the investigation carried out by the BEI, revealed that the 35-year-old man was known to the police in the region since they had already intervened at his home three times. The first time, in December 2022, an SQ police officer even wrote a sheet entitled “dangerous person – act with caution” to notify his colleagues of the presence of the man, who had recently moved into their territory. The form also mentioned mental health disorders. “Very explosive and aggressive individual,” it was written.
He had attacked his psychiatrist twice and seriously injured a nurse during one of his numerous psychiatric hospitalizations. In Louiseville, he smashed the face of the concierge of his building and attacked another roomer.
According to what was reported Monday to the coroner, Isaac Brouillard Lessard had five verdicts of not criminal responsibility due to mental disorders.
Delirium and threats
A few days before the fatal day, Isaac’s mother was inundated with aggressive text messages from her son — nearly 500 in a few days. On numerous occasions, he calls his family members pedophiles and heaps insults on them. Isaac’s father and mother call 811, the psychosocial help line, and 911. Serge Brouillard tells them that Isaac is “delirious”. The parents want their son to be hospitalized for everyone’s safety.
The police went to his house, but judged that Isaac was now calm. He admits to having been aggressive towards his family. They finish their intervention without taking him away. His father called 911, dissatisfied, because they did not arrest his son and take him to the hospital.
Coroner Géhane Kamel told everyone present that she found it important to make the calls heard in the room: “The first on the front line are the parents. Parents carried a lot on their shoulders. The appeal is eloquent. »
In addition to the knife that killed the policewoman, four lethal weapons were subsequently found in the room inhabited by Isaac, testified Sergeant Michaud, who exhibited them in the courtroom: two knives, a hatchet and a sword. katana type.
Coroner’s inquests are not intended to find those responsible for a person’s death. Their objective is to protect human life and to formulate recommendations so that such tragedies do not happen again.