An 18-year-old cyclist is dead after he was struck by a car fleeing from provincial police in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on Friday, launching a Quebec police watchdog investigation.
Montreal police (SPVM) received a 911 call around noon reporting a collision between a vehicle and a cyclist at the intersection of Jeanne-Mance Street and Henri-Bourassa Boulevard.
According to police, the cyclist was crossing the intersection when the driver struck him head-on. The vehicle was reportedly travelling at high speed.
A road sign near the collision shows the speed limit on Jeanne-Mance Street is 30 kilometres per hour.
“When police officers arrived, they talked to a lot of witnesses and they said the car was heading southbound, at high speed, on Jeanne-Mance Street and he crossed all the lanes of Henri-Bourassa (Boulevard). He hit the cyclist directly at the intersection,” said Montreal police spokesperson Manuel Couture.
Police attempted resuscitation manoeuvres on the man until paramedics from Urgences-Santé arrived and declared he had died, said Couture.
Quebec’s police watchdog investigating
The driver, a man, fled the scene before emergency services arrived. Police are currently searching for him.
His car was found near the scene of the collision, but the driver reportedly fled on foot.
Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), announced shortly after that it was launching an independent investigation into the circumstances of an intervention involving the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
Six BEI investigators have been assigned to the investigation to determine the circumstances that led to the incident.
According to the BEI, an unmarked SQ patrol car saw a vehicle carrying out a possible violation of highway safety rules.
“The police car reportedly tried to intercept the vehicle, which then fled,” the statement reads.
“The fleeing vehicle is said to have hit a cyclist. The cyclist was pronounced dead on the spot.”
Montreal police launched a parallel criminal investigation.
