Family of dead Quebec teen suing police for $1M
The family of Brandon Maurice is suing Sûreté du Québec and two police officers for $1 million for the teen's death in 2015.
The family said the police who were involved in the high speed chase that led to Maurice's death in Messines, Que., north of Gatineau, were criminally negligent.
The 17-year-old died after being shot by a police officer after the chase.
Quebec's Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions cleared the officer who fired the bullet, Frédéric Fortier, and his partner David Constantin, saying they committed no criminal offence.
Earlier this year, the coroner held an inquest into Maurice's death, which the family said showed the officers did not act properly and used excessive force.
The report of the inquest is expected early next year.
Maurice's mother Dominique Bernier said she vowed at her son's funeral to keep fighting for him.
"Our son should not have died this way," said Dominique Bernier in a French interview.
"We shouldn't have had to live with this kind of grief and be abandoned by the system,"
Bernier said she is uneasy about going to civil court, but the money from the civil suit may help the family and others.
"For three years, we have been fighting to survive," she said.
"I don't want other children to pass the way my child did or for other families to live what we've lived."
In the notice of a lawsuit provided to Radio-Canada, Maurice's mother, father and grandmother are claiming compensation for psychological and moral damages related to the loss of a child, lost income from work and court costs.
"As the employer, you are solely responsible for the damages caused by the mistakes made by the officers in the course of their duties," the notice addressed to the provincial police says in French.
In a statement Wednesday, Sûreté du Québec said it will not comment on the case "out of respect for the court process."
