Investigators to probe January police intervention in Montreal

The Bureau of Independent Investigators has launched an investigation into a police intervention in Montreal at the end of January. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Quebec's Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) has launched an investigation into a police intervention in Montreal at the end of January. The announcement of opening of this file was postponed for several months, until Thursday.

The BEI's investigation concerns an event that occurred on Jan. 28 at around 9:30 p.m. in the LaSalle borough of Montreal.

At that time, police spotted a vehicle allegedly in violation of the Highway Safety Code. The day after the incident, the Montreal police service (SPVM) reported that a driver had failed to make a mandatory stop at an intersection.

The police then turned on their patrol car's flashing lights to intercept the vehicle, but the driver eluded them.

A few minutes later, the driver's vehicle was involved in a collision with another vehicle, resulting in several injuries.

Some ten days later, the BEI received new information about the event, prompting it to open an investigation into the police intervention. The nature of this new information has not been made public.

The existence of this investigation was only revealed on Thursday. The BEI said it chose to postpone the announcement of this investigation by several months "in order not to interfere with the parallel investigation."

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 1, 2024.