Driver involved in Quebec City car crash missed group of schoolchildren 'by seconds'
School crossing guard Denis Royer was standing in the middle of the road on Charest Boulevard at Victoria Street in Quebec City Wednesday over the noon hour, when he saw "a grey blur" speed past him.
"A split second" before, Royer said, he had been holding up his stop sign to help a group of school children safely cross the road.
"I still wonder how none of the children was killed," said Royer on Thursday morning, back on the job in his usual spot, despite feeling "on edge."
The vehicle, later described as a grey SUV, went on to crash through the window of a ground-floor cafeteria in a building three blocks further east on Charest Boulevard, injuring 12 people — three of them seriously.
Royer said he heard the vehicle accelerate before he actually saw it and told a young boy who had just reached the sidewalk to run.
The SUV "went by so quickly I thought to myself, 'He's going to kill someone,'" said Royer.
Another eyewitness, Alexandra Maude-Grenier, said she saw the SUV "skim past" Royer.
She was stopped in her car on Victoria Street, waiting for the light to turn green to turn onto Charest Boulevard.
"The pedestrians had just put their feet on the sidewalk when the SUV sped past," she told Radio-Canada, saying she, too, just missed being in the way of the careening vehicle.
"Five seconds before it was them. Five seconds later, [my car] would have turned onto Charest."
Both Royer and Maude-Grenier said the driver avoided cars stopped for the red light by veering into the opposite lanes.
"He was swerving back and forth and got back in his lane before crossing toward the building," said Maude-Grenier, who then saw "a cloud of dust" — the moment when the car crashed into the building at the corner of Charest and Langelier boulevards.
"I was convinced there were people who had been killed," she said.
3 people seriously injured
The 47-year-old driver is among 12 people who were brought to hospital following the crash.
Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec confirmed Thursday nine people with minor injuries have been released. Three others are remain in hospital.
Quebec City police confirmed he was questioned at the scene on Wednesday.
Police have ruled out impaired driving as a possible cause but are still investigating whether the driver may have been ill. There's no decision yet as to whether criminal charges will be laid.
In the meantime, the man's driver's licence remains valid.
