Quebec provincial police officer Patrick Ouellet, convicted in 2018 of dangerous driving causing the death of a child, will have to head to prison after he lost his appeal with Quebec’s highest court.
The Sûreté du Québec police officer was convicted after a young child died during a police operation on the morning of Feb. 13, 2014, in Longueuil.
While he was in an area where the speed limit is set at 50 km/h, Ouellet was driving at a speed of 134 km/h in the seconds before he collided with a vehicle. A man and his young son were in the car.
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The five-year-old boy who was in the car died from the impact of the crash.
However, the charges were not laid until more than a year later, in May 2015. The guilty verdict came down in July 2018.
A judge with the Quebec Court handed down a prison sentence of eight months to Ouellet.
After the ruling from Quebec’s Court of Appeal, Ouellet will begin to serve his sentence starting this Friday.