Inspired by colleagues who won their case against the SQ and the SPVM last fall, five stage technicians present during the attack against Pauline Marois at the Metropolis are in turn claiming more than $400,000.
“The plaintiffs were directly exposed to a serious threat to their person and to the tragic and violent death of a friend and co-worker,” reads the lawsuit filed this week at the Montreal courthouse.
Elias Ames-Bull, Hakim El Harrif, Jérôme Savard, Benoit Gromko and Benoit Bellehumeur were at the performance hall located on rue Sainte-Catherine Est, in Montreal, on election night on September 4, 2012.
The new Prime Minister Pauline Marois was celebrating her victory there with her supporters when Richard Henry Bain spoiled the party.
He came through the door at the back of the building and fired one shot, killing technician Denis Blanchette and wounding Dave Courage, before his gun jammed.
He then set the entrance on fire before fleeing and then being arrested.
“The lack of coordination between the SQ and the SPVM resulted in a major flaw in the security plan which the shooter was able to take advantage of to commit his crime,” argues the lawsuit.
Trauma
The five stage technicians were not injured in the attack. However, they still feel the after-effects, some having even suffered post-traumatic shock, according to the prosecution.
Others have experienced periods of depression, addiction to alcohol or drugs, insomnia and panic attacks.
“The claimants must live with trauma resulting from the incident as well as a loss of confidence in public institutions,” it says.
They therefore claim $70,000 each in damages and $10,000 for past and future therapy costs.
Botched investigation
According to the prosecution, the internal investigation conducted by the Sûreté du Québec on this subject in 2013 “was botched”.
The mandated person “had the conclusions of his report dictated to him, even before the investigation in question was started. The result of this investigation was a short report of only six pages, which was telegraphed and dictated in advance by his superior who, by his own admission, had no experience in security matters.
Judge Philippe Bélanger had indicated last November, in a file concerning five other technicians, that “a real investigation could have made it possible to detect the flaw in the security plan to which the court concludes”.
The Sûreté du Québec and the Montreal Police Department were then ordered to pay them $280,000.