Suspect driver charged after person killed in Kuujjuaq
Police release few details from Friday night incident; person charged is under 18 years of age
Nunavik police say a suspect is charged with impaired driving causing death after another person was killed in a collision Friday in Kuujjuaq. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
A collision in Kuujjuaq has left one person dead and a suspect charged with impaired driving causing death.
The incident occurred Friday night, said Nunavik Police Service deputy Chief Jean-François Morin.
He said the person charged is under the age of 18 and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Morin said the incident happened near the Newviq’vi Tullik grocery store.
Due to the suspect’s age, “we are very limited on the information we can provide,” Morin said in an email exchange with Nunatsiaq News.
He did not say if the person who died was a pedestrian or travelling in another vehicle.
Morin did not release the name or age of the victim, saying “I would not want family members or friends to learn about it in the newspapers.”
Time to Scrap the youth justice act. If ur Old enough to do the crime ur old enough to do the time
Is the legal guardian or designated temporary guardian at fault and liable?
It’s disheartening to witness the increasing prevalence of young people drinking in Kuujjuaq. Despite the presence of patrolling police, there seems to be a lack of intervention and community support. Many of us in Kuujjuaq feel disconnected from our local law enforcement. The lack of action by the NPS is concerning, especially when we see numerous police vehicles parked without much activity. It’s distressing that our local authorities appear indifferent and fail to take the necessary steps to address this issue. Tragically, a life has been lost, and it’s likely that another young person will face minimal consequences. While education ideally starts at home, in situations where this is lacking, our local leaders and authorities need to step in and take responsibility. Within a week, there were 3 vehicle accidents in Kuujjuaq. Once again, where was the NPS? There was a time when people were scared to drive under the influence or while being prohibited, because our cops knew everyone in town. It’s not like today, where the cops are like ghosts.
Law enforcement is to enforce the law. Which is what they do. If you want to reduce crime, you need crime prevention. This is done by a community, not by the police. Crime prevention starts by the community working together in many forms to prevent crimes from happening. Police are for those who slip through that barrier and the law has to be enforced upon them.
Hi Mr. Alex, how long have you been in Nunavik? I don’t think it’s been long enough. In the past, police were all over the place. I’ve spoken with former officers, and I witnessed it myself for being north over 30 years. If there were no calls, they would be out on the roads conducting DUI checks. We don’t see that anymore. It seems like they are not enforcing the law against drunk drivers unless they are called about it. We all know they are staying in the office. We used to see them patrolling and pulling over people, but not anymore. Yes, it is true that prevention is everyone’s job and it starts at home, in our schools, and local organizations. But we cannot deny the fact that the police are not as proactive as they used to be.
I encourage you to read up on many precedent cases surrounding DUI’s, the Charter of Rights Freedoms and how police now can simply only act once they are 100 percent certain a crime has taken place. This isn’t a police being proactive issue, this is the fact that the law is very proactive in protecting the rights of individuals. Police are under a lot of scrunity. In law school, in my criminal law class, I was able to use this very law to throw a case out for a DUI stop with the individual also having 100 grams of cocaine simply on a charter violation.
This evolution is constant and police now must be so sure of a crime taking place or else they will not get a convinction and in fact will be accused of rights infringement.
I wish it was that simple, as you say, but it is very complex. Police now must simply enforce the law, and to enforce criminal law, a crime must have take place and then must have a actus reus and mens rea.
You really want to stop impaired driving? Look to the community, not to the law