Jean-Philippe Giroux, a mourning father who lost his children Émerik, 7 and Maélie, 3 in an accident involving a truck driver, distracted by his phone, expresses his dissatisfaction with the five-year imprisonment sentence given to the driver. The accident, which occurred on April 18th, 2022, on Highway 401 near Belleville, ON, also took the life of Chantal Dendooven-Legault, 68, the children’s grandmother. Anik Legault, mother of the children, and their uncle Érik, survived with minor injuries.
Mehakdeep Singh, truck driver, collided with the Giroux family’s vehicle while he was preoccupied by his phone, unaware of the slowing vehicles in front of him. Surveillance cameras recorded the moments leading up to the accident, revealing that Singh did not notice the slowing signals and continued to use his phone.
Singh, who had falsified his logbook and shouldn’t have been on the road that day, was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death. Despite a five-year sentence, considering his remorse and clean criminal record, Giroux points out that his own sentence is perpetual, having lost his family in an instant.
