Entrepreneur Tony Accurso, already convicted of a drunken driving case dating back to 2011, was again charged with drunk driving on Thursday at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse. These new charges follow a road accident in which he was allegedly involved last November.
The Sûreté du Québec confirms, without naming Mr. Accurso, that an individual who was arrested around 4:45 p.m. on November 14 following a collision on Highway 640, near Highway 13. “The driver of the vehicle that hit the other was arrested for driving impaired by alcohol. The other person was injured, in a minor way, and was transported to the hospital centre, ”said the spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec, Catherine Bernard.
“The driver of the offending vehicle had a breathalyzer reading more than double the legal limit. His vehicle was seized for 30 days,” she added.
Mr. Accurso, 71, was officially charged on Wednesday with two counts of driving while impaired by alcohol and having a blood alcohol level greater than 80 mg per 100 ml of blood. He pleaded not guilty to both counts.
This is the third time that the fallen entrepreneur, a key witness to the Charbonneau commission on the awarding of public contracts in the construction industry, has been charged with drunk driving. On October 22, 2018, he was acquitted by the Municipal Court of Deux-Montagnes of two counts for an alleged offense dating back to May 2017, for which he pleaded not guilty.
However, on the same day, Mr. Accurso admitted before the same court his guilt on one count of drunken driving, the facts of which date back to 2011. Mr. Accurso had his driving license revoked for a period of 12 months and had to pay a $1,000 fine following this conviction.
In this case, which required almost seven years of legal proceedings, Mr. Accurso invoked the Jordan decision to obtain a stay of proceedings. He also tried to exclude the evidence collected by the police officer who arrested him, claiming that she had no power to intercept him.
The court documents consulted by The Press indicate that Mr. Accurso was driving a black Lexus registered in the name of his former company, Simard Beaudry, when he was arrested on October 17, 2021.
The police intervention, which occurred very close to Mr. Accurso’s residence in Deux-Montagnes, occurred after a woman traveling on Highway 640 called 911 to complain about a driver who had ” road rage driving”. “He braked on the highway and then we almost bumped,” said the complainant. He brakait every 5 seconds.
The lady provided the license plate, and a policewoman went to Mr. Accurso’s to intercept him. The businessman had glassy eyes and a strong smell of alcohol emanated from the vehicle. Mr. Accurso then complained that his arrest was a “set up”: “You have nothing to do, so your boss is sending you against me”, he told him, indicates the judgment rendered by the judge André Hotte.
Back at the station, Mr. Accurso failed the alcohol test.
Mr. Accurso’s lawyer, Mr.e Jean Cordeau, pleaded in court that the arrest was illegal because the police officer had found no violation of the Highway Safety Code. The court decided otherwise. “Not only did she have the power to do it, but she had the duty to do it. It would be absurd to think that a police officer could not act because he observes normal behavior […]. In the case of a serious complaint of erratic driving, the police have a duty to investigate. ” ruled the judge Hotte.
Then, 61 months after the arrest, Mr. Accurso’s lawyer filed a motion for a stay of proceedings for unreasonable delay, citing the Jordan decision. “During a period of 4 years, all requests for postponement without exception were made by the defendant’s lawyer”, underlined Judge Hotte, rejecting the request for a stay of proceedings. “It was his lawyer who proposed the dates for the surrenders, the accused certainly cannot complain about it today because the Jordan judgment has arrived in the background. »
Mr. Accurso has found himself in the news on more than one occasion since 2022. In February, a Laval office building owned by his daughter’s spouse was ravaged by arson. Residences and vehicles belonging to his children have also been the target of fire and even shots from July. The case is still ongoing.
The next court date for the new drunk driving charges has been set for April 17.