DEATH IN DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX, QUEBEC - WHO IS RESPONSIBLE ?

 

 

Someone's grandparents walk along the side of the street. It is a lovely community, a good neighbourhood, a mild evening before the anticipated Spring. People there are pleasant to each other. It is a safe place to walk.

 

But is it? There are no sidewalks. The Town of Dollard des Ormeaux provides for cars, neighbourhood traffic. You can drive home after work and park in your driveway or garage. Dollard is a good place to live.

 

But Dollard des Ormeaux is also a good place to die, to be killed by a driver operating a vehicle recklessly while under the influence. And the elderly couple forced to walk at the curb in the snow and ice and slush because there are no sidewalks - well they are just sitting ducks.

 

Who is responsible ?

 

It wasn't war or pollution or gangsters or disease that brought such tragedy to this couple, this family, this neighbourhood.

 

It was the Town of Dollard des Ormeaux's administration that puts dollars before safety.

 

It was the 40 year old man going to court today accused of causing the death of one person and injury to another while driving under the influence of drugs.

 

We were pioneers of the Town of Dollard des Ormeaux, when Fred Wilson was mayor. I was an active member of the community when Gerry Dephoure was mayor.

 

I wrote the "Original History of Dollard des Ormeaux, Quebec, 1689 - 1969" (copyright ) which was published by limited permission to Ross Greer in The North Shore News, and again in the early 1980's with limited permission to Jeanette Burley Tremblay in The Lakeshore News and Chronicle. My history was used at Sunnydale Elementary School.

 

I know Dollard des Ormeaux the way a mother knows her child. I know that Dollard is a lovely community of lovely people who are welcoming to people from other places. 

 

But politicians are always about money first - so no sidewalks.

 

In the beginning there was no stop sign on the street that led to the small circle with the little park in the centre. I asked the mayor and council for a STOP sign.

 

I was refused. Drivers coming home from work would be annoyed at having to stop before turning into the circle. No stop sign.

 

Then the toddler who lived at the corner tried to cross the few steps to the park. And he was struck by a car that didn't have to stop.

 

The little boy lived.

 

I went to see him in his crib at the Lakeshore General Hospital. He looked like a casualty of war with his bandaged little head. But he lived.

 

And then Councillor Frank Quinn took my appeal to the Mayor again.

 

Before the sun set on that same day, public works had installed the stop sign at the corner of Maple Circle.

 

How much blood has to be spilled before politicians take responsibility ?

 

Will the court add to the tragedy by failing to impose a severe sentence against the driver that just tore apart the lives of this innocent couple?

 

Stay tuned.

 

Quebec has an established record of protecting criminals.

 

We are supposed to care. Be aware.

 

Phyllis Carter

 

Man facing charges for driving under the influence of drugs

 

By Max Harrold,

The Gazette February 22, 2012 9:19 AM

 

 

A 40-year-old man is facing impaired driving charges after his eastbound car allegedly struck the two pedestrians in Dollard des Ormeaux as they were walking on Ceres St. near Andras St., Montreal police said.

Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

MONTREAL - A neighbour of a couple in their 70s who were hit by a car in Dollard des Ormeaux Tuesday – one fatally - says the street has no sidewalks and is poorly maintained, so people have to walk in the street.

Henri Parlenge told The Gazette the couple hit by an allegedly impaired driver's car Tuesday about 8 p.m. were "nice, quite calm" and they ran a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Montreal. They have a grown son and grandchildren, he said. The couple lived on the street for at least 15 years, he added.

"It's terribly sad," Parlenge, 69, said about the couple. "They were pleasant and smiled at us from their garden but we didn't speak the same language," he said, noting that the couple was from Asia.

A 40-year-old man is facing impaired driving charges after his eastbound car allegedly struck the two pedestrians as they were walking on Ceres St. near Andras St., Montreal police Constable Daniel Lacoursière said.

The woman and the man, 72, were rushed to a hospital in critical condition but the woman died of her injuries during the night, Lacoursière said. The man was in serious but stable condition Wednesday morning.

Parlenge said the city of D.D.O. should take the accident as a sign that things need to be improved. "They should have a sidewalk on at least one side of the street and they should clear it properly so people can walk there," he added. There are not many street lights so the visibility is not great at night, he added.

In addition, the Sunnybrooke train station is nearby and people who use it park on the street, causing additional and unnecessary traffic, Parlenge said. "We have children playing in the street. We are afraid because when the cars come by – and some go fast – we have to quickly get out of the way."

The 40-year-old driver was given a test for his blood-alcohol level and for drugs and medications. He was found to be under the influence of drugs or medications to the point where it was not safe for him to drive his vehicle, Lacoursière said.

The man's blood-alcohol level was not, however, above the legal limit.

The suspect is expected to be arraigned Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse on a charge of impaired driving causing injury and impaired driving causing death, Lacoursière said.

mharrold@montrealgazette.com