Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
The 77-year-old driver who accidentally slammed his truck into fellow members of a gay chorus group, killing one and injuring two others, said Monday that he was devastated by the crash at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida.
Fred Johnson, a member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus, a tight knit ensemble of about 25 mostly older men, suddenly accelerated forward in his pickup, killing James Fahy, 75, and injuring Jerry Vroegh, 57, who was released from the hospital Monday. Gary Keating was treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to a statement from Fort Lauderdale police.
"I love my Chorus family and the community and would never do anything to intentionally harm anyone. Please know that I hold my fellow Chorus member, Jim Fahy, in my heart forever and offer my condolences to his friends and family," Johnson said in a statement.
Fort Lauderdale police also said Monday that all evidence indicates it was a terrible accident, noting Johnson was fully cooperating with the investigation and there was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were involved.
Crowd-goers waved flags and Mardi Gras beads Saturday night, anticipating what should have been a celebration of life and love South Florida gay community. But festivities quickly turned into terror as gleeful cheers were drowned by the sounds of sirens and crying children.
Witness Michael Albetta, regional director for Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, was about to walk the parade route alongside U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch when he heard the truck's engine unexpectedly revving.
"You hear the engine roaring and galloping with more speed. All of a sudden you heard `thump, thump, thump,' and those were the bodies he was hitting and he just crashed right through the nursery," Albetta said.
He said the truck narrowly missed U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's vehicle, somehow jumped the curb and came straight down on the victims, before careening into a fence on the opposite side of the road.
In the initial aftermath, parade participants and witnesses didn't know want to think. A visibly shaken Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said it was a terrorist act on the gay community. On Sunday, he said he was traumatized by what he witnessed and clarified it was an accident.
The parade route turned into pandemonium as participants and witnesses pieced together what had happened. Parade goers waiting at the end of the route heard the commotion and were frantically calling friends near the accident at the front of the route asking if they should flee.
A heavy police presence already secured the parade route, so there was an immediate onslaught of blaring sirens and flashing lights.
"Children saw this, and they were in shock and they started crying because they saw people on the ground with the blood coming out. It was horrible," said Albetta.
Wilton Manors is a tight-knit community near Fort Lauderdale with a vibrant downtown filled with shops, where people line up for Rosie's famous hamburgers or to gossip and drink at Georgie's Alibi Monkey Bar.
June is Pride Month, commemorating a June 1969 uprising that followed a police raid targeting gay patrons at the Stonewall Inn in New York. It was a catalyst for the gay rights movement.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported "noticeable progress" in ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel while an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war.
Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, N.C., home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction of his neighbor's house.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.