Amqui truck attack: Steeve Gagnon testifies, says it was an ‘accident’
Posted June 18, 2025 5:15 pm.
Steeve Gagnon’s lawyer, Hugo Caissy, has asked the jury to believe his client when he said that he did not deliberately drive his pickup truck into pedestrians on March 13, 2023 in Amqui, but that he “ran off the road” when he bent over to retrieve an electronic cigarette capsule that had fallen onto the floor of his vehicle.
This would therefore constitute an accident, not a crime, and Gagnon would be acquitted.
Gagnon is charged with the premeditated murder of three people and the attempted murder of nine others who were injured in the tragedy.
In his plea on Wednesday, Caissy argued that many elements of Steeve Gagnon’s testimony are true and that it is “imprudent, but not implausible” that he bent down to pick something up. In support of his testimony, he pointed out that the pickup truck climbed five places on the sidewalk, two of which were not occupied by pedestrians.
The lawyer reminded the jury that the accused enjoys the presumption of innocence, and that it is up to the prosecution to overturn this presumption beyond all reasonable doubt.
However, if the jury does not believe his client and concludes that Gagnon acted voluntarily, it may not, according to Caissy, conclude that it was premeditated.
The lawyer spoke at length about the fact that his client had first left his home to make a scene with Service Canada representatives, furious that his unemployment insurance benefits had been cut off. Expert testimony established that Gagnon suffers from a chronic delusional disorder and a personality disorder that translates into sometimes uncontrolled impulsivity, amply demonstrated in court by his repeated outbursts of anger at the judge, jury, Crown prosecutors and even his own lawyer.
As for the videos made by Gagnon, in which he refers to the possibility of hitting children, the lawyer considers that they are “an expression of his delusions” and cannot be seen as proof of premeditation.
The prosecution will take up the case in the afternoon.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
