Before an emotional judge, a driver has been sentenced to 23 months in prison for causing a collision at nearly 90mph in Acton Vale, killing a young man instantly in front of his companion.
“In one of the happiest moments of my life, it turned into a nightmare overnight. In a split second, I lost my peace of mind, but also the man I wanted to grow old with […] and raise a family,” wrote Sarah Vaillancourt in a letter read at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse this morning.
Photo provided by Rachel Durocher
Maxime Cusson died aged 26 in a collision on Route 116 in Acton Vale
In October 2021, she was sitting next to husband Maxime Cusson, 26, when their vehicle was hit badly on Route 116 in Montérégie.
Judge Benoît Gariépy sentenced the young man responsible for this collision, Alexandre Timmons, to 23 months in prison. The one who made his way to jail without saying anything had pleaded guilty to the dangerous driving that led to death and injury last February.
Alexander Timmons was convicted of the fatal collision.
There was a heavy silence as the magistrate approved the joint verdict. Relatives of the victim burst into tears. Even the judge rushed out of the room, barely holding back his sobs.
On the evening of the tragedy, the 19-year-old driver exited a Tim Hortons by depressing his Acura’s accelerator pedal so far that one of his passengers felt “crushed in his bench.”
According to the expert opinion of the reconstruction specialist, he was driving between 138 and 156 km/h shortly before the collision, which occurred in an area with a speed of 90 km/h. While attempting to overtake in an area where maneuvering was prohibited, he collided with Maxime Cusson’s vehicle. He had been careful to use his turn signal before turning into the yard of his parents’ house.
Her mother, having heard all about the crash, rushed outside. Today, she struggles to open the curtains of her home every morning and relives images of the car flipped onto its side meters away and the Acura’s engine lying in a ditch from the force of the impact.
Photo QMI AGENCY, ADAM BOLESTRIDGE
The Timmons passenger had to undergo two surgeries after a perforated intestine. He will live with the consequences for the rest of his life, sometimes having to stay away from work and taking medication when the pain gets too bad.
Injured, Sarah Vaillancourt was urgently transferred to Sherbrooke Hospital. She suffered cerebral head trauma that resulted in memory loss and difficulty concentrating, and was bedridden for two months after the collision.
In her letter, read by Crown Prosecutor Me Sabrina Labrie, she describes the moment her mother walked into her hospital room after 16 endless hours of waiting to tell her the worst: “I’ve never had such strong felt pain,” she said.
She was about to move into an apartment with her boyfriend that they were renovating in her in-laws’ two-generation house.
Those close to Maxime Cusson believe her family is “broken forever”. “We will never celebrate Christmas together again, I will never be able to hug my son and see him smile again […] You grabbed a life by being unconscious,” his mother, Rachel Durocher, wrote to the driver.
Since the tragedy, she has multiplied her efforts to make people aware of the consequences of speeding on the roads.
Photo provided by Rachel Durocher
The parents of Maxime Cusson, 26, installed this memorial cross in front of their home.
“For him, it’s 23 months of his life in prison. For us, it’s a sentence for the rest of our days. Young people sometimes faint at the speed and realize too late that the gesture made can be just as dangerous,” she told the Journal.
Ms Durocher has placed a cross on her property with her son’s photo on it, which reads: “Slow down to avoid another tragedy.”
The parents of Maxime Cusson, 26, put up this sign outside their home where the crash took place.