Trucker in fatal crash in Laval had lost licence

4 KILLED IN 2019

MONTREAL• Jagmeet Grewal, the truck driver charged with criminal negligence causing death in a fiery crash on a highway in Laval, Que., suffered from mental health problems following a previous crash and was not supposed to be behind the wheel of a rig when four people were killed in 2019, according to evidence heard in his trial.

Grewal, 56, of Dorval, Que., is alleged to have lied on a form in order to get back a licence from the Societé de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) after it previously determined he could no longer be permitted to drive a truck on a permanent basis.

When the criminal trial began on Wednesday, prosecutor Simon Blais said the SAAQ also made an error in giving Grewal his trucker's licence back.

Grewal faces four counts of criminal negligence causing death and another four of criminal negligence causing harm.

On Aug. 5, 2019, he was behind the wheel of a truck on Highway 440 in Laval. The truck was travelling at 100 kilometres per hour when it approached the exit to Highway 15. Quebec Court Judge Yannick Laramee is expected to hear evidence that Grewal failed to react, for several seconds, to how traffic in the exit had come to a stop and several vehicles were lined up in it.

The accident caused a chain reaction and set off a huge fire. Four people died and several others were injured. The victims who died were: Michèle Bernier, 48; Robert Tanguay Laplante, 26; Gilles Marsolais, 54; and Sylvain Pouliot, 55.

In his opening statement, Blais told the court Grewal should not have been behind the wheel of a truck in 2019. He lost his licence in 2014 following a fatal accident in Illinois on March 23, 2012, that left him with physical injuries and mental health problems.

Grewal was a victim in that 2012 crash on Interstate 80 in Evergreen Park, Ill. His truck had come to a stop because of an earlier accident when a truck travelling behind him on the highway crashed into another and set off a chain reaction. Grewal's truck was one of four damaged in the crash. The driver of the truck that started the chain reaction was declared dead at the scene.

At the start of the trial in Laval, Blais said that when the SAAQ withdrew Grewal's licence eight years ago it was supposed to be permanent. However, four years later, he was somehow given a new licence.

On Thursday, Grewal's lawyer, Philipe Knerr, cross-examined Leslie Stewart, an SAAQ review officer. Her job involved reviewing Grewal's file as part of the process to determine how much he could be compensated while unable to work.

Grewal's trial is in English and an interpreter translated one report contained in his file from February 2013.

“Patient says he has nightmares three or four times per week, sleeps three or four hours per night. Feels depressed. Based on my assessment, I believe that the patient suffers from (post traumatic stress disorder) associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms,” the interpreter said as she read from the report.

“There is a temporary incapacity to the present employment as a driver of a heavy truck.”

The person who filed the report recommended that Grewal's file be re-evaluated after every 10 consultations. The following year, his incapacity to drive a large truck was determined to be permanent.

The trial is expected to take at least four weeks.