Tue, August 2, 2005
Gatineau cop stabbed
Suspect charged with attempted murder in bizarre midnight chase
By ANDREW SEYMOUR, Ottawa Sun
A GATINEAU man accused of plunging a kitchen knife into the throat of a police officer before stealing his cruiser and leading police on a wild high-speed chase has been charged with attempted murder.
Gatineau police arrested 20-year-old Sebastien Charette moments after the driver of a stolen police car smashed through a Gatineau police roadblock just after midnight yesterday.
The arrest came about 15 minutes after veteran Gatineau police officer Richard Rochon was stabbed in the throat by a man being taken to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
OFFICER 'VERY LUCKY'
"(The knife) was very short but very sharp," said Gatineau police Lieut. Jean-Francois Beauchamp, adding Rochon has been released from hospital. "It was very, very close. He was very lucky."
Beauchamp said the injured officer and his partner were transporting a "paranoid" man to the Buckingham hospital when the stabbing occurred at about 11:45 p.m.
As Rochon attempted to pull the cruiser over, Beauchamp said his partner doused the suspect with pepper spray, causing him to drop the knife.
Worried about his partner's condition and believing the suspect was secure in the back seat of the cruiser, the second officer then left the police car to tend to the injured Rochon.
"When he got out of the cruiser to get the first aid kit and to help stop the bleeding, he lost visual contact with the suspect," said Beauchamp, adding the suspect was somehow able to slip through the small window between the front and rear seat of the cruiser and steal the car.
Beauchamp said the suspect wasn't handcuffed since he voluntarily offered to go to the hospital and wasn't under arrest. It's not known if the officers searched him prior to putting him in the back seat of the cruiser.
With the lights and siren blaring, the fleeing suspect then drove the wrong way onto Hwy. 50 and raced westbound toward Gatineau in the eastbound lanes as police officers scrambled to warn oncoming motorists.
RAMMED CRUISERS
As the suspect approached a Quebec provincial police roadblock and spike belt at Montee Paiement, police said he crossed back into the westbound lanes and then exited onto Blvd. Labrosse. After driving south on Blvd. Labrosse, he then turned west onto Maloney Blvd. before turning north onto Blvd. de L'Hopital, where two police cars blocked his path.
"The suspect intentionally accelerated and rammed into the two cruisers," said Beauchamp, adding the near-demolished stolen police car then lost a wheel before crashing into a concrete median. The suspect attempted to flee, but was quickly tackled by officers, Beauchamp said.
According to police, the chase lasted about 13 minutes, covered 30 km and reached speeds upwards of 160 km/h.
Yesterday, police laid nine charges against Charette, including attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failing to stop for police and theft.
PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT
Charette appeared in Gatineau court yesterday and was remanded into custody for a psychiatric assessment.
It is the second time in less than 10 days that Charette has been charged with leading police on a wild chase in the wrong lanes of a major highway. He was charged July 21 by Ottawa police after a driver heading the wrong way on Hwy. 417 at Nicholas St. struck several cars and forced others off the road. The driver was eventually caught trying to flee after crashing the car into a ditch on Hwy. 174 near Tenth Line Rd.
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