A young Montrealer who accompanied a young woman who fatally hit a pedestrian encouraged her to speed up, said the Crown at the opening of the accused’s trial.
“He was complicit in the dangerous driving by encouraging the driver to accelerate to flee the police, in a residential and school district,” said Mr.e Sylvie Dulude of the Crown, this Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
Just before, Jean Bervens Petit, 22, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Carolina Zollo-Braca, as well as having fled the police, during an event which occurred in the Rivière-des-Prairies district on the 16 March 2021.
That day, police were carrying out a radar operation in the area, to show their presence following shootings that had taken place some time earlier. It was then that they saw a white Ford Focus driving by at 70 km/h, driven by a woman, with two passengers on board.
Quickly, the police tried to intercept the vehicle, but the driver then accelerated, possibly up to 100 km / h according to the prosecution. And this, even if it was a residential area.
“Because of this, the officer turned off his flashing lights and stopped the pursuit,” explained Mr. Dulude.
Fatal collision
Except that everything indicates that the driver has not, for her part, slowed down enough.
“There was a loss of control, the vehicle hit a stop sign as well as the victim, who died as a result of the collision,” added the prosecutor.
During this trial, the Crown intends to prove that Petit should be found guilty, because of his “participation in the offense” since he would have encouraged the driver to accelerate.
And to prove it, the Crown wants to hear the driver herself, who should then “report what led him to drive at high speed and lose control of the vehicle”.
Police officers, witnesses of the scene, as well as an expert in traces of braking and skids should also be heard.
The jury trial, presided over by Judge François Dadour, is scheduled for a few weeks. Me Clemente Monterosso represents the accused.