Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) policewoman Isabelle Morin was found guilty on Monday after her second trial for dangerous driving causing death.
• Read also: Beginning of a second trial for a Quebec police officer
Agent Morin, 51, was acquitted after the first trial in 2018.
The accused was present at the Quebec courthouse on Monday for the decision rendered by Judge Frank D’amours. At the time of the judgment, she remained impassive, throwing only a short glance towards the mother of the victim, who she broke down in tears.
“It was terrible for me,” said Marlène Drolet when she left the courtroom. “When you lose your child, you lose a whole part of your life. I think about my boy all the time. And he did not die of an illness, he died of an accident he did not commit,” insisted the lady, saying she wished Isabelle Morin would suffer the consequences of her gesture to end ” to criminal police officers.
Photo Pierre-Paul Biron
Marlene Drolet, victim’s mother
“She knew what she was doing. She took a risk, she bypassed cones and it was my boy who arrived on a motorcycle. She killed him like a fly.”
Reminder of events
Remember that on September 10, 2015, the victim, Jessy Drolet, lost his life on the Laurentian highway while riding his motorcycle.
Paving work on the freeway narrowed the lanes and forced oncoming traffic, with the lanes separated by orange cone markers. While the victim was traveling south, an SPVQ car driven in the opposite direction by officer Isabelle Morin made a left turn between the cones to reach the Georges-Muir exit, open to motorists coming south.
Jessy Drolet did attempt “emergency braking” as the investigation showed, but was never able to avoid the impact with the patrol car by sliding on the ground. The 38-year-old motorcyclist died instantly.
Photo Pierre-Paul Biron
Me Guy Loisel, Crown Attorney
“There is no doubt in the mind of the court that a reasonable police officer placed in this situation would have been aware of the risk of such a maneuver”, established the judge D’amours in his decision, qualifying the conduct of Isabelle Morin “incomprehensible” and in contravention of the highway safety code.
The magistrate also rejected the trial judge’s consideration of the victim’s speed in the equation leading to his decision. Even taking the scenario placing Jessy Drolet’s speed at its lowest, the time before impact would have been too low to be able to react.
“As soon as the police officer begins to turn left, fate [de Jessy Drolet] was sealed,” explained Frank D’amours.
First instance judgment
This was a second trial for the policewoman in this case after the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal verdict initially pronounced by Judge Pierre Rousseau in October 2018. Isabelle Morin was also charged with dangerous driving causing the death.
The magistrate had established that the policewoman had the “necessary overall visibility” to perform the left turn maneuver which ultimately proved fatal to Jessy Drolet. Judge Rousseau called the decision of the police “unusual and unusual, but not illegal”. The Court of Appeal overturned the verdict in March 2021, ordering a new trial due to the judge’s overemphasis on the conditions of the accident, including the speed of the victim, as well as the decision to judge legal the maneuver of the police.
Isabelle Morin will return to court next March for the rest of the proceedings, in particular the observations on the sentence of the two parties. She faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
A case that has been going on since 2015
September 10, 2015
- The accident that occurred in a work zone on the Laurentian highway costs the life of Jessy Drolet, 38
April 12, 2016
- Isabelle Morin, police officer with the SPVQ, is charged with dangerous driving causing death
May 14, 2018
- Opening of the first trial
October 30, 2018
- The acquittal of Isabelle Morin is pronounced by judge Pierre Rousseau
November 21, 2018
- Crown appeals verdict
March 13, 2021
- Court of Appeal orders new trial
March 14, 2022
- Opening of the second trial
December 19, 2022
- Judge Frank D’amours finds Isabelle Morin guilty of dangerous driving causing death