10 years in prison for truck driver involved in fatal Quebec crash
Jagmeet Grewal, the truck driver who killed four people and injured four others on Aug. 5, 2019, in a massive pileup on Highway 440 in Laval, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The defense had hoped for a more lenient sentence for her client, but Judge Yanick Laramée wanted to send a strong message to society in general and truck drivers in particular. She also emphasized the man’s disregard for human life, whose guilt on a charge of criminal negligence was established in February 2024 at the Laval courthouse.
Grewal, now 58, was unfit to drive but had obtained his licence after an administrative error by the SAAQ . He had also falsified documents and lied to his employer to get on the road.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) has since undertaken to redo the interchange of Hwys. 15 and 440, where endless traffic jams tended to form.
Grewal drove into one such traffic jam, without even slowing down, an investigation revealed.
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The trucking company and the dispatch should also get a fine.
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Why?
They followed the rules. They did their due diligence. What more should/could they have done?
And why the dispatcher? That person’s job is to dispatch trucks, not to second guess HR or S&C.
Your comment reckless rhetoric.-
If they had sent him out with another truck driver for 2 or 3 days plus checked on his actions they should have seen the truck driver was having difficulty. I see many dispatch people when a truck driver has a concern do nothing then act surprised when a preventable crash happens
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This driver should be glad he is benefitting from Canada’s “coddle the criminal” legal system. In Oklahoma or Texas he would get 50 years and serve most of it. But we’re better than those Americans, aren’t we?
Hi-when will the government upgrade driver training? hopefully before any more deaths on our highways in Canada!
When hiring a driver companies do their due diligence in regards to paperwork but a Road Test in the type of vehicle the driver will be operating should be mandatory. As mentioned in a previous comment a few days training with a senior driver and being evaluated on operating the truck would have told the company the driver did not have the experience they required.
In addition to the driver, who is justly punished for this horrible action, should the SAAQ also for be penalized for issuing him a license in the first place when according to this story he was unqualified?