The truck driver found responsible for the August 2019 fiery multi-vehicle pile-up on Autoroute 440 near the A-15 in Laval which killed four people has been sentenced to a decade in prison.
On Aug. 5, 2019, Jagmeet Grewal was driving a transport truck and a 53-foot trailer without a valid license, when he crashed into stopped traffic as he was travelling around 100 km/h, causing a major fire, while trapping some occupants in their cars.
The crash killed Robert Tanguay-Plante, Sylvain Pouliot, Michèle Bernier and Gilles Marsolais, while injuring 15 others.
Surveillance camera images used in a subsequent investigation showed him not holding the steering wheel leading up to the crash.
The Quebec auto insurance board (SAAQ) had previously said he was unfit to work as a truck driver due to major physical and psychological problems.
Grewal’s license was also suspended at the time of the crash, and he was convicted three times for impaired driving in the 1990s
“Innocent victims that were at the wrong place at the wrong time perished and others were severely injured and are still carrying their pain and sufferings,” Superior Court Justice Yanick Laramée wrote in a ruling prior to imposing the sentence.
