Advertisement 1

Man who led a police chase in a Nissan Leaf guilty of dangerous driving

The chase ended with a car hitting a woman who was shovelling snow in front of her home.

Article content

Sentencing arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday in the case of a South Shore resident who was involved in a police chase that left a Montreal woman badly injured.

The jury in the trial of Sébastien Théodore, 41, delivered its verdict at the Montreal courthouse during the weekend. After informing Superior Court Justice James Brunton they were at an impasse on Saturday, the panel of five women and seven men were asked to keep trying and finally reached a unanimous decision Sunday afternoon. They found him guilty of two counts of dangerous driving. He was acquitted on the more serious charges he faced, including dangerous driving causing bodily injury and criminal negligence.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

On Nov. 18, 2018, Théodore was driving with a suspended licence when he crossed the Jacques Cartier Bridge into Montreal and a Sûreté du Québec patrol officer told him to pull over. Théodore did pull over, but drove away while the SQ officer tried to talk to him. Théodore acted as his own lawyer and told the jury he doesn’t believe the SQ or municipal police forces had the authority to arrest him. He claimed he wanted to go to the RCMP’s headquarters in Westmount to straighten things out.

Article content

When he drove away, he was followed by the officer, who asked for assistance from the Montreal police. Other police cars got involved in the pursuit, but it never reached high speeds. Instead, Théodore was alleged to have gone through a series of red lights and to have driven into oncoming traffic before the path of his Nissan Leaf was blocked by a Montreal police car on Sherbrooke St. E.

His vehicle hit at least two Montreal police cars. Nancy Carrier, who was shovelling snow in front of her home, was struck. She suffered several serious injuries when she was sent flying 29 metres after being struck by a car. During the trial, the prosecution argued that physical evidence gathered in the investigation indicated Carrier was struck by Théodore’s Leaf.

pcherry@postmedia.com 

Recommended from Editorial
  1. A police photo of the scene of the crash that injured Nancy Carrier while she was shovelling snow in front of her home. Sébastien Théodore is on trial on charges alleging he drove recklessly during a police chase. Credit: court files
    Man walks out of courtroom during his own trial, says he won't listen to lies
  2. Sébastien Théodore has been charged with criminal negligence and dangerous driving.
    Trial begins Thursday for man who led police on wild chase in Montreal
  3. Sébastien Théodore is charged with dangerous driving, criminal negligence and dangerous driving during a police chase.
    Longueuil man involved in police chase that injured woman is denied bail
Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

This Week in Flyers