POLICE BEAT
It’s lineup time for a 44-year-old man whom Laval Police arrested, Oct. 1. Investigators suspect that he might be linked to more than a dozen robberies in Laval and the North Shore.
“Just before midnight, the man stole cash from the register of a convenience store at 1119 Jean Lesage, in St. Vincent de Paul,” Sgt. Frédéric Jean told The Suburban. “He fled in a stolen vehicle that patrollers quickly spotted. They followed him across the bridge to Montreal, where his vehicle struck a divider and stopped at the corner of Pie IX and Henri Bourassa. The officers quickly apprehended him after he fled on foot.”
The man, who has a record of similar infractions, appeared to have been living out of the vehicle, based upon the personal effects that investigators found inside. The following morning, he faced charges in criminal court of using a weapon in the commission of a crime.
Mystery shooting
Laval detectives are also looking into a 25-year-old gunshot victim dumped at the Cité de la santé superhospital 25 minutes after midnight, Oct. 1.
A car drove up to the hospital and left the man, who had been shot in the abdomen.
“The vehicle that dropped him off had been involved in a hit-and-run at Cité de la santé, which called 9-1-1,” Sgt. Jean said in an interview. “The victim had been sedated with painkillers, so investigators couldn’t interview him.”
Soon afterward, Montreal Police tracked down the driver of BMW they stopped on Walkley Avenue in Notre Dame de Grâce district. Investigators handcuffed the young man, who wore a black hoodie, and took him away in the back of a squad car for questioning.
“The person whom they met was considered to be a very important witness, but no arrests have been made as yet in this case,” Sgt. Jean said.
Material witness held for questioning in Montreal
Motorists survive triple collision
A spectacular crash crumpled three cars but spared their drivers from death, Oct. 1.
“The accident happened during rush hour at St. Martin and Laurentides,” Sgt. Jean reported. “The cars were pretty badly mangled, but the injuries were not very severe.”
The intersection is one of Laval’s four deadliest where, as The Suburban reported in 2013, the Parti Québécois government approved installing red-light cameras—Robocop devices that monitor motorists who traverse in intersection illegally. St. Martin and Laurentides was the only intersection of the four that was also approved to get fixed photo radar, as well as the red-light camera.
The devices were supposed to be in operation by early 2014. Just before last week’s three-way collision, Liberal Transport Minister Robert Poëti was in Laval to announce that the plan would at last go ahead.
