Deaths of provincial police officer, assailant were ‘avoidable’: Quebec coroner

A Quebec coroner has concluded that the deaths of a provincial police sergeant and the mentally ill man who fatally stabbed her were avoidable.

In her report released Monday, Géhane Kamel issued 38 recommendations for various government departments and organizations in connection with the deaths of Sgt. Maureen Breau and Isaac Brouillard Lessard.

On March 27, 2023, Brouillard Lessard fatally stabbed Breau with a kitchen knife and seriously injured another officer before being shot dead by police in his apartment building in Louiseville, Que., about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Brouillard Lessard, 35, suffered from schizoaffective disorder and was killed while police were attempting to arrest him for uttering threats to a family member and breaking probation.

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The coroner’s inquest heard of numerous failings in the assessment and supervision of Brouillard Lessard, who had been found not criminally responsible because of mental illness five times for offences in 2014 and 2018.

Kamel says the lack of communication between mental health officials and police regarding Brouillard Lessard’s care contributed to his death and that of Breau, a 42-year-old mother of two with more than two decades of policing experience.