Husband of victim calls for end to high-speed police chases

Husband of injured woman calls for end to chases Questions about whether there is a place for high-speed chases in the city after a woman was seriously injured.

The husband of a woman badly injured by a high-speed chase is calling on police to change their policies.

Nancy Carrier has been in hospital with severe injuries since Saturday morning when she was struck by a car while she was shovelling snow in front of her home.

Witnesses estimate that police were chasing a car doing more than 100 km/h along Sherbrooke St., where the speed limit is 50 km/h, when one of them struck Carrier, sending her flying at least ten metres.

Emergency crews called Carrier's husband and Simon Duclos got home as quickly as he could, arriving to find Carrier being loaded into an ambulance.

The couple's children, nine and four years old, were inside eating a snack, and Duclos said it's lucky they had gone in after the morning's outing.

"Why such a high speed chase in Montreal? We talk about asking people to return to the city, to live in Montreal, but if we're not safe at home, on our sidewalk..." said Duclos.

"I could understand if they were chasing an armed thief, but I think this was about a problem with a licence plate. This is sad."

Carrier underwent nine hours of surgery on Monday to have braces installed in her legs, and she will need months of physical therapy.

Police began chasing the car at 11 a.m. Saturday when its driver failed to pull over after exiting the Jacques Cartier Bridge when he was flagged down for a traffic violation.

The driver instead fled and was chased through city streets for at least four kilometres by multiple police officers, striking several vehicles and Carrier along the way, only coming to a halt when he ran into a lamp post at Sherbrooke and De Lery St.

The province's independent investigation unit, the BEI, is asking any witnesses to contact them.