A transit driver has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after two children were killed and six were seriously injured when a city bus crashed into a daycare north of Montreal.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, 51, appeared in court by video late Wednesday afternoon from a hospital room and will remain detained. Court documents show he faces a total of nine charges, including attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault causing bodily harm. The dead children were both four years old, identified in the documents only by their initials.
Witnesses who arrived at the daycare in Laval, Que., soon after the crash Wednesday morning said several people had to restrain the driver after he got off the bus, adding that he seemed delirious.
Hamdi Benchaabane, a neighbour to the daycare, said he rushed to the scene of the crash. Benchaabane told reporters that he and three others managed to subdue the driver, who he said removed all his clothing and started screaming after leaving the bus.
B次元官网网址淗e was yelling, he didnB次元官网网址檛 stop yelling,B次元官网网址� Benchaabane said. B次元官网网址淭he first thing he did was take off all his clothes after opening the bus door B次元官网网址�. He was just yelling, there were no words coming out of his mouth.B次元官网网址�
Aerial news footage from the scene showed a Soci茅t茅 de transport de Laval bus that had smashed through the front of the Garderie 脡ducative Ste-Rose. Benchaabane said he believes the driver deliberately drove into the daycare, which is located at the end of a driveway off a cul-de-sac. There is a bus stop on the cul-de-sac, but the driver would have had to veer off the road and head down the long driveway to hit the building.
Police said a 911 call about the crash was received at 8:30 a.m., which is typically around the time parents drop their children off for the day. Mario Sirois, another neighbour, said he was among the first on the scene and helped stop the suspect as he tried to flee.
B次元官网网址淚t canB次元官网网址檛 be an accident,B次元官网网址� Sirois said. B次元官网网址淭here were no signs of skid marks. It was deliberate. He went directly into the daycare.B次元官网网址�
SiroisB次元官网网址檚 wife, Ginette Lamoureux, described a scene of horror inside the daycare. B次元官网网址淭he children were screaming and crying, they were all in a room B次元官网网址�. A mother arrived and collapsed,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭he policewoman was trying to calm her down. I left, I was no longer able.B次元官网网址�
Benchaabane said he and the others had to strike the driver to get him under control before police handcuffed the man. The driver, he said, B次元官网网址渨as in a different world.B次元官网网址�
He said he was able to help pull one child from the daycare, adding that he and the others tried to save a second child before firefighters ordered them to leave because pieces of the roof were at risk of falling.
B次元官网网址淚t was a nightmare, I canB次元官网网址檛 believe it,B次元官网网址� Benchaabane said of what he witnessed. B次元官网网址淚t was horrible.B次元官网网址�
Dozens of police and emergency vehicles lined the blocked-off road leading to the daycare. Panicked parents tried to run down the road to the site but were redirected to a nearby elementary school building that was turned into a gathering point.
Parents, some in tears, could be seen walking away from the school with their young children in their arms. When asked how she felt, one mother said only that she was B次元官网网址渞elieved.B次元官网网址�
Diane Pilon, a grandmother, said she rushed to the daycare after learning of the crash. She said she was relieved to learn her one- and five-year-old grandchildren were doing well, but she said her thoughts were with the families of those injured or killed. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a test for all parents,B次元官网网址� she said.
Laval police Chief Pierre Brochet told reporters at the scene Wednesday afternoon that he was having trouble controlling his emotions.
B次元官网网址淚 saw colleagues crying; itB次元官网网址檚 difficult,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭he job of police officer requires you to be ready for any situation, but when it comes to children itB次元官网网址檚 hard.B次元官网网址� Brochet said police did not have information about a motive for the attack.
According to the daycareB次元官网网址檚 website, it has capacity for up to 80 children.
Documents list the injured children as being four and five years old. Four of them B次元官网网址� two boys and two girls B次元官网网址� were taken to MontrealB次元官网网址檚 Sainte-Justine pediatric hospital, said Dr. Marc Girard, head of professional services. They were conscious when they arrived at the hospital and were being evaluated, he told reporters, adding that one child was in intensive care.
Officials at LavalB次元官网网址檚 Cit茅-de-la-Sant茅 hospital said they received three crash victims, one of whom died. The other two were under observation in the emergency department, said Dr. Patrick Tardif, head of emergency at the hospital.
Laval Mayor St茅phane Boyer said the driver had worked for the transit agency for about 10 years and had no incidents of note on his file. The Quebec branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents drivers with the Laval transit service, tweeted that it was B次元官网网址渢ruly devastatedB次元官网网址� by the tragedy. B次元官网网址淲e will co-operate fully with the authorities in the investigation,B次元官网网址� it said.
Quebec Premier Fran莽ois Legault said his thoughts were with the children and their families, as well as with the employees of the daycare. B次元官网网址淲e are going to give the parents all the help we can, and as a father, I am shaken,B次元官网网址� he said in Quebec City. Legault said he will visit Laval on Thursday.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he could not imagine what families of the victims were going through.
B次元官网网址淭here are no words for parents whoB次元官网网址檝e lost their children this way,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎ll Canadians are grieving with them and weB次元官网网址檒l do whatever we can to support them in their horrific pain through the coming days and months and years of grief.B次元官网网址�
Wearing a hospital gown and in a bed, St-Amand was alert but unresponsive during his video appearance as the judge and his lawyer tried to get him to speak. He only nodded his head a few times when asked by his lawyer, Julien Lesp茅rance Hudon, if he understood he was appearing in a courtroom.
The case returns to court on Feb. 17.
B次元官网网址� With files from Jacob Serebrin and Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal.
Morgan Lowrie and St茅phane Blais, The Canadian Press
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