Sergeant Éric Deslauriers, accused of shooting a teenager nine years ago, was acquitted Tuesday morning at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse following a second trial.
The second trial of Éric Deslauriers began last fall in Saint-Jérôme, five and a half years after the first. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) sergeant was then accused of having caused the death of a teenager by shooting him during a police operation that occurred in the parking lot of the Sainte-Adèle high school.
“The accused admits to having shot the victim, but claims that he was justified in doing so to protect himself,” according to the judgment made public Tuesday morning.
On January 22, 2014, the police officer located a stolen car in the school parking lot and was trying to prevent the driver from fleeing.
A witness told the first trial that the victim had revved his engine several times while looking at Éric Deslauriers. The latter then allegedly asked the driver to raise his hands three times. Believing that the teenager had complied, the police officer then approached him. But when he was a few meters from the vehicle, the teenager allegedly pressed the accelerator pedal.
Mr. Deslauriers fired two projectiles towards the 17-year-old.
Right to act
The court ultimately concluded that it was justified for the police officer to shoot the young victim. Éric Deslauriers “would not have committed an illegal act, because he had the right to act,” explains judge Éric Côté in his decision. According to the court, the peace officer used the force necessary to protect himself when he believed his safety was threatened by the young driver, who cannot be named under a court order.
Remember that the 50-year-old police officer was found guilty of manslaughter by judge Joëlle Roy, then sentenced to four years in penitentiary in 2018. It was two years after this sentence that the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered the holding a new trial in March 2020, accusing Judge Roy of having painted an “unreasonable” portrait of the events and of having excluded important elements of evidence.
Mr. Deslauriers was defended by Mr.e Nadine Touma and Me Stéphanie Lozeau. Me Marie-Claude Bourassa and Me Isabelle Bouchard represented the public prosecutor in this case.
With Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press