The driver of a heavy goods vehicle who decimated a family from Laval in 2022 in Ontario was a real time bomb: not only was he not allowed to drive, but he had his eyes glued to his cell phone a second before the tragedy, reveals a disturbing video obtained by The newspaper.
On April 18, 2022, Mehakdeep Singh, driving a Volvo trailer truck, never saw the line of vehicles slow down and stop in front of him. He was too absorbed in the screen of the phone he held in one hand. It then caused a violent collision which cost the lives of two children and their grandmother, on Highway 401, near Belleville, Ontario.
The driver was subsequently criminally charged and recently pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and injury. He was sentenced to five years in detention.
To convict him, authorities had one damning piece of evidence: a video of him looking at his phone up to a second before the collision.
Vehicle of Anik Legault and his family. Her children, Émérik and Maélie, as well as her mother, Chantal Dendooven-Legault, perished. COURTESY of the Ontario Court
COURTESY of the Ontario Court
Cameras installed in the cabin of his truck filmed Mehakdeep Singh and the road in front of him.
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Absorbed by his cell phone
Several minutes before the fatal collision, Mehakdeep Singh looked at his phone for a long time. He was absentmindedly and unenthusiastically monitoring the road, but his attention was mainly diverted to his screen. He even took his hands off the wheel momentarily to use his cell phone, before changing his mind.
He then put the device down for a few minutes, only to pick it up again just 20 seconds before impact. Already, on the camera images which show the trajectory in front of its heavyweight, the slowdown is visible in the distance.
He looks up less than a second before hitting the Hyundai Elantra, which was slowing in front of him, at full speed. The truck driver didn’t even have time to brake.
Its speed at the time of impact was 105 km/h.
The three passengers in the back seat of the Hyundai had no chance: Émérik Giroux, 7 years old, Maélie Giroux, 3 years old, and their grandmother Chantal Dendooven-Legault, 68 years old, perished.
Anik Legault (with headband), with her twin brother, Érik, in a Toronto restaurant shortly before the death of her mother, Chantal Dendooven-Legault, and her children, Maélie, 3, and Émerik, 7, in a violent collision in Ontario in April 2022.
Courtesy photo
The children’s mother, Anik Legault, and her twin brother, Érik, sitting in the front seat, were slightly injured. The group was returning from a weekend in Toronto. The Laval family should never have crossed paths with the reckless trucker.
In fact, the man, now 26 years old, was not authorized to drive at the time of the collision.
Mehkadeep Singh, at the time of the fatal collision. ONTARIO COURTESY COURT
ONTARIO COURTESY COURT
The police investigation revealed that he had falsified his logbook and thus violated the hours of service limit authorized for truckers.
The company he worked for, Snowflake Express Inc., still used electronic statements as well as paper statements. Electronic statements have since become mandatory in Canada.
- Listen to Alexandre Dubé’s editorial on Benoit Dutrizac’s show on the fatal accident via Radio QUB :
Difficult forgiveness
Thus, Singh’s paper returns differed from the electronic returns.
The mileage of the Volvo truck recorded in the logbook was also different from the movements seen in the videos. And the GPS data didn’t match the logbook entries taken at the crime scene.
The Volvo truck driven by Mehkadeep Singh. COURTESY of the Ontario Court
COURTESY of the Ontario Court
The driver should have been placed off the road for 72 hours for these false entries into the system, according to court documents.
In addition to the five-year prison sentence, he will be banned from driving for a period of seven years. He then risks expulsion, we learned.
“Of course, I would have liked him to receive a more severe sentence, but no sentence will be enough in my eyes for three lives taken,” commented Anik Legault, who traveled to Ontario to attend the guilty plea .
COURTESY of the Ontario Court
The driver filed a letter of apology to the court, but MMe Legault said she didn’t feel ready to hear what he had to say.
“I would have found it easier to forgive if it was an accident and not repeated dangerous behavior,” she said.
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