Bathurst settles lawsuits over fatal police shooting of Michel Vienneau
CBC
Settlements have been reached in lawsuits against Bathurst and its police force over the shooting death of Michel Vienneau in 2015 after police got a false Crime Stoppers tip he was trafficking drugs.
The cases concluded in recent months in Bathurst's Court of King's Bench without going to trial.
The settlements bring to a close one of the final proceedings stemming from Vienneau's shooting death on Jan. 12, 2015, while leaving the Bathurst train station with his common-law spouse, Annick Basque.
Basque filed a lawsuit on behalf of her two daughters in 2015 against the city, the police force, and officers Mathieu Boudreau and Patrick Bulger, claiming damages and loss of income because of the 51-year-old Tracadie businessman's death.
A second lawsuit against the city alleged she was arrested forcibly and without reason immediately after the shooting.
Basque's lawyer, Charles Leblanc, told Radio-Canada the financial settlement between Basque and the city is subject to a confidentiality agreement.
In the case involving her daughters, court documents show a settlement amount totalling $70,000. Each daughter will receive $25,000, with the lawyer paid $20,000 to cover legal costs, the documents show.
The municipality wouldn't comment on the settlements, including how the municipality will cover the settlement costs or how much it has spent on legal costs over nine years.
"It is the norm for the City of Bathurst to not comment on legal matters," Luc Foulem, a spokesperson for the city said in an email Friday. "The same approach applies to this particular situation."
Details of the shooting had emerged through a series of court and other proceedings over the years, including criminal charges against the officers, a coroner's inquest, and a hearing about whether the officers should be fired.
Those proceedings painted a picture of a rushed police operation in response to anonymous Crime Stoppers tips alleging Vienneau was trafficking drugs on a passenger train that was due to arrive in Bathurst that morning.
In reality, Vienneau and Basque were returning from a weekend trip to Montreal to watch a hockey game. An RCMP investigation after the shooting found no evidence of drug trafficking.
The tips were received that morning by a team of officers from the region's police forces tasked with surveillance and intelligence gathering related to drugs and organized crime.
Bulger and Boudreau, Bathurst officers, were part of that team who rushed to the train station in the hopes of intercepting the couple.
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