Montreal Police Talk w/Suspected Cop Killer on Phone
Ken [NY
Montreal, Quebec Canada - 3/1/2002
Montreal police have confirmed that they have spoken twice with
Stéphane Boucher who is accused of murdering police officer Benoît
L'Ecuyer in Anjou after a car chase Thursday morning
"He was very agitated, we told him to calm down and to surrender,"
Commander Andre Durocher said of Boucher, 24.
"But as of this moment he still has not yet surrendered and we are not
taking for granted that he will surrender, so we're continuing our
search actively at the moment."
Durocher would not say whether police or Boucher initiated the calls
Thursday.
According to certain sources, Boucher wants to contact a lawyer before
he surrenders.
Constable L'Écuyer, 29, a seven-year veteran of the force, was
pronounced dead in Santa Cabrini Hospital at 11:30 a.m.
L'Écuyer, who is survived by his wife and two children under 4, a girl
and a boy, was hit four times during a shootout on Highway 40 just
east of Ray Lawson Blvd.
A warrant was issued last night charging Boucher with first-degree
murder.
Flags were lowered to half-staff at city police stations yesterday in
honour of L'Écuyer, the first Montreal police officer killed on duty
in nearly six years. Some officers put black ribbons over their
badges.
Members of the homicide squad said last night they were confident that
they would find Boucher quickly.
He already had two warrants outstanding for his arrest. About 20
investigators from the homicide and armed robbery squads were checking
on leads and addresses that are part of Boucher's criminal record.
A police source said investigators fingered Boucher as a suspect after
they checked out the license plate of the car he was driving at high
speed before the shooting.
It was registered to Boucher's ex-wife, the police source said.
Investigators spoke to the woman yesterday afternoon and she said the
car was taken without her permission. Boucher does not have a valid
driver's license.
The chase began at about 10 a.m. when a light-coloured Infiniti,
heading east on Crémazie Blvd. near Pie IX Blvd., sped through a radar
trap.
L'Écuyer and his partner gave chase in their minivan.
The car, carrying two men and a woman, then sped onto Highway 40 but
crashed on the service road.
The three passengers fled on foot, heading north across several lanes
of traffic and over the concrete median.
"One turned back and fired," deputy police chief Yves Charette told
reporters. The gunman then hijacked a white Pontiac Tempest and headed
east.
The two other passengers were arrested a few minutes later. Police
were questioning the man, 21, and a woman.
The Pontiac Tempest was found by a patrolman around 8:45 p.m. last
night at the Halles d'Anjou shopping centre.
The three had shared a Montreal apartment for months, police said.
Before Boucher's identity was known, and it was discovered he was a
wanted man, police said they had no idea why a driver would open fire
when stopped for speeding.
L'Écuyer was wearing a bulletproof vest. He was shot in the shoulder,
the chest, arm and thigh.
"We don't know whether (Boucher) was wounded," said investigator
Robert St. Jean. "We didn't find traces of blood."
L'Écuyer fired four shots; his partner, five.
A police source said the 21-year-old man arrested near the scene, who
was still being questioned last night, is expected to be charged with
a series of unrelated armed robberies.
Police said Boucher is facing two charges of criminal harassment but
did not show up for a Montreal court hearing on Aug. 27, 2001, and
thereby violated his bail.
Boucher is also wanted on a warrant for violating probation after
pleading guilty on Nov. 8, 2000, to theft and mischief.
In 1995 he was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison after pleading
guilty to robbery and conspiracy charges.
Constable L'Écuyer's father is a retired Montreal police officer and
his uncle and brother are also cops. L'Écuyer worked out of the
Montreal police's North Operations Centre on Crémazie Blvd. E.
He was part of an intervention squad whose responsibilities included
providing support to smaller neighbourhood police stations. The last
time many of his colleagues saw him alive was when he showed up for
his shift, sometime between 7:30 and 8 a.m.
"Some officers who learned of (his death) started to spread the news,"
said a woman who worked at the centre. "Then it snowballed. It was a
very bad day."
Some of L'Écuyer's colleagues who spoke to The Gazette asked that
their names not be published because a Montreal police directive
forbids them to talk to reporters without permission from a superior.
"I know this is said every time someone dies like this. But I want
this to be known. He was a really, really nice guy. He always had a
smile on his face," said an officer who worked with L'Écuyer.
Another officer who attended Collège Maisonneuve with L'Écuyer more
than 10 years ago described him as a very quiet man.
"Sometimes you wouldn't even know he was in the room. But he was a
great guy. Nobody was smiling (in the operations centre) today," the
officer said.
"Sometimes, when it happens somewhere else, it is easier to deal with.
But this was someone we all knew and just like that he is gone. It was
very heavy in the office today. People had trouble saying hello to
each other."
The same colleague said L'Écuyer started his career on a small
municipal police force and joined the Montreal force seven years ago.
- Anyone with information on Stéphane Boucher's whereabouts is urged
to call (514) 393-1133.
Officers Killed in Line of Duty
The constable shot dead yesterday was the 34th Montreal police officer
slain since the force was established in 1838. Here is a list of some
of the Montreal-area police officers killed in the line of duty since
1980:
Aug. 28, 2000: Saint-Hubert police officer Alain Forget, killed at a
roadblock on Highway 116 . He was hit by a stolen minivan driven at
high speed. Nicolas Kurt Rougie, 33, was charged with first-degree
murder in Longueuil court Aug. 29.
April 29, 1996: Montreal Urban Community Police Constable André
Lalonde, 51, a 29-year veteran of the force, was gunned down while
investigating a car with a noisy muffler on a Senneville road. His
killer has not been found.
Nov. 27, 1995: MUC Police Constable Odette Pinard, 30, a mother of
two, was shot to death while sitting at her desk at a community
station in Cartierville district. The case remains unsolved.
Dec. 7, 1992: Constable Chantale Mattio of the Sûreté du Québec was
killed while pursuing a vehicle with a defective headlight in the
Laurentians. Police believe Mattio, 23, hit a patch of snow-covered
ice before skidding off the highway.
June 19, 1991: Rookie MUC police officer Yves Phaneuf, 25, was shot
dead with his .38-calibre service revolver during an early-morning
argument with a cyclist in Verdun. Daniel Vachon, a 34-year-old
drifter, was charged with first-degree murder but a Quebec Superior
Court jury found him not guilty of the crime. The acquittal was
appealed but upheld.
July 11, 1990: Constable Marcel Lemay of the Sûreté du Québec's
tactical squad was shot during a police raid of a Mohawk roadblock at
the start of the Oka crisis. No one was ever charged in his death.
Nov. 13, 1986: MUC Police Constable Robert Baril, 42, a 21-year
veteran of the force, was shot dead at point-blank range. Adelard
Vallée, who was on day parole on a 16-year manslaughter conviction,
shot Baril with his own .38-calibre revolver after the officer stopped
him for running a red light.
July 24, 1986: Saint-Hubert police Constable Marcel Simard was shot to
death with a sawed-off shotgun after questioning Louis Troalen, 22
about the contents of his suspicious-looking knapsack. Troalen and
Carol Pinard, 27, already on parole for armed robbery, were on their
way to rob a store. Troalen was sentenced to life in prison with no
possibility of parole for 25 years.
May 10, 1986: MUC Police Constable Claude St. Laurent, 33, a 13-year
veteran, was shot to death with his own pistol while questioning a
motorist after he pulled a car over on Sherbrooke St. E. Yvon Racine,
44, and Pierre Ouellet, 37, were sentenced to life in prison.
Oct. 26, 1985: Constable Jacinthe Fyfe, 25, became the first
policewoman slain on duty in Canada when a man fired a bullet through
the rear window of her patrol car as she drove down a Dorval street.
Her killer, Réal Poirier, 21, was found not guilty by reason of
insanity.
Oct. 6, 1984: Constable Pierre Beaulieu, 38, was killed along with
student Giovanni Delli Colli, as he questioned a man trying to steal
Delli Colli's car. Their killer, Dennis Colic, committed suicide in
prison.
Nov. 6, 1981: Constable Emmanuel Cloutier, 52, was shot during a
holdup of the Banque Nationale in Place Dupuis by Christian Perreault,
23, who received a life sentence.
MONTREAL
Ken (NY)
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