A young driver who had filmed his injured friends, after causing a violent collision at 200 km / h in the Laurentians in August 2020, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, Tuesday at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.
After completing his detention, he will face a 30-month driving ban and three years probation.
The young man had pleaded guilty last February to two charges of dangerous driving causing injury, for an accident for which he was responsible, on August 8, 2020.
“The overtaking maneuvers, the approximate high speed of 200 km/h, the severity of the injuries, the young people who had to undergo operations, fractures in particular to the vertebrae, to the four limbs in the case of another of the victims. Obviously, there was the irregular status in terms of Mr. St-Jean’s conduct. He had a learner’s license, there was no adult on board who was a passenger, the vehicle was on a temporary transit which had expired following the purchase. So there were several reasons why Mr. St-Jean was not allowed to drive his vehicle that day, ”detailed the Crown prosecutor, Me Sédrik Valiquette.
Recall of facts
That day, Cédric St-Jean, who only had a probationary license, took route 340 with two minor friends on board. His car, a gray Hyundai Sonata, was neither legal nor roadworthy. It had brake and tire problems.
Encouraged by a friend who was filming, the 18-year-old learner driver raised the speed needle to 200 km / h. It was then that a Ford F350 entered the lane a hundred meters ahead, at the height of Brownsburg-Chatham.
Cédric St-Jean hit the truck head-on.
Rather than inquire about the condition of his injured friends on the ground, the young man instead filmed the scene and posted it on social networks.