by Brendan Kennedy, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008

OTTAWA—A U.S. police pursuit watchdog organization says police should never have pursued the suspected cigarette smuggler who ended up killing a senior couple from upstate New York and himself in a violent collision after a high-speed chase on Cornwall Island Friday night.

"If someone is suspected of anything less than a violent crime, then it is not worth the risk to the officers and the public to pursue the suspect," said John Phillips, president of PursuitWatch.org, a national association of citizens and police officers that lobbies for safer police pursuits.

Mr. Phillips, who lives in Florida, established the website and lobby group after his 20-year-old sister, Sarah, an innocent bystander, was killed in a police pursuit almost seven years ago. The group successfully lobbied the Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office to amend their pursuit policies so that police only pursue suspects of violent crimes and, according to Mr. Phillips, "it's worth the risk to the public and the officers."

On Friday night around 8 p.m., Akwesasne Mohawk police chased a suspected cigarette smuggler across Cornwall Island in Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. According to several witnesses and the president of the union representing Canadian border guards, police chased the suspect from one end of Island Road -- the reserve's main east-west thoroughfare -- to the other and back again, travelling at more than 150 km/h.

Shortly after 8 p.m., a couple returning from Montreal to their home in Massena, New York, entered the intersection just before the bridge to the U.S. -- known as the "Four Corners" or the "Crossroads" on the reserve -- when the suspected smuggler sped through a stop sign and collided with their car, forcing it upwards of 40 metres from where the collision occurred and producing what one witness described as "atomic bomb smoke" and a terrible smashing sound.
Edward and Eileen Kassian, both 77, and the driver of the pursued minivan, 21-year-old Dany Gionet, of St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que., were pronounced dead at the scene.

Akwesasne Mohawk residents who spoke to the Citizen over the weekend were angry and frustrated about the crash. A woman who witnessed the chase and the collision called it "senseless" and "totally uncalled for."

"The island is so small. I don't think there's any need for chases around here," said Anna Thompson, a 42-year-old registered nurse and mother of three. "Ain't nobody's life worth a van-load of cigarettes."

Island Road is the main road by which residents get around on the reserve. It has two lanes, no sidewalks, no lights and the posted speed limit nearest to the intersection is 40 km/h.

Neither the OPP, which is investigating the collision, the Akwesasne Mohawk police or the RCMP have confirmed that a chase took place, except to say that attempts were made to stop Mr. Gionet.

Akwesasne Mohawk police Chief Steven Lazore refused to comment on the collision and any issues related to it, including the police pursuit policy and their anti-smuggling policy.

"I don't want to comment on anything," he said.

Chief Lazore said the police officers involved in the incident on Friday night will continue to work while the OPP investigates the collision.

The Ontario Police Services Act's policy on Suspect Apprehension Pursuits states:

"A police officer shall discontinue the pursuit when the risk to public safety that may result from the pursuit outweighs the risk to public safety that may result if an individual in the fleeing motor vehicle is not immediately apprehended."

It is not clear whether the act applies to the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

The area's MP said yesterday that he had sent Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan a letter asking him to "have a look at the incident and see if something could be done to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"It's such a waste of three lives," Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MP Guy Lauzon said.

© Ottawa Citizen 2008