[VIDÉO] Laval family devastated in Ontario: Two children and their grandmother killed after errant truck driver’s eyes glued to cell phone

A heavy truck driver who destroyed a family from Laval, Ontario in 2021 is a real time bomb: not only is he not allowed to drive, but a second before the play he has his eyes glued to his cell phone, revealing a confusion. Video sourced from Newspaper.

On April 18, 2021, Mehkdeep Singh, who was driving a Volvo trailer truck, didn’t see a line of vehicles slowing down in front of him. He was deeply engrossed in the screen of the phone held in one hand. It later led to a violent collision that claimed the lives of two children and their grandmother on Highway 401 near Belleville, Ontario.

The driver was later criminally charged and recently pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and injury. He was detained for five years.

To convict him, authorities had one damning piece of evidence: a video of him staring at his phone a second before the collision.

Anik Legault and his family’s vehicle. He was preceded in death by his children, Emerick and Mellie, and his mother, Chantal Tendouin-Legald. Courtesy of Ontario Court

Courtesy of Ontario Court

Cameras mounted in the cabin of his truck captured Mehkdeep Singh and the road ahead.

Absorbed by his cell phone

Moments before the clash, Mehkdeep Singh took a long look at his phone. He was mechanically and half-heartedly monitoring the road, but his attention was mostly turned to his screen. He took his hands off the steering wheel for a moment to operate his cell phone before changing his mind.

He put the device down for a few minutes, picking it up again 20 seconds before impact. Already, its heavyweight can be seen in the distance in camera images showing the front track.

He sees the Hyundai Elantra slowing down in front for less than a second before crashing into it at full speed. The truck driver didn’t even have time to brake.

Its speed at the time of impact was 105 kmph.

Three passengers in the back seat of the Hyundai did not stand a chance: Émérik, 7 years old, Maélie, 3 years old, and their grandmother Chantal Dendooven-Legault, 68 years old, died.

Anique Legault (with headscarf), along with her twin brother Eric, at a restaurant in Toronto, Ontario in April 2021, shortly before her mother Chantal Tendouin-Legault and her children Mellie, 3, and Emerick, 7, were killed in a violent confrontation.

Courtesy photo

The children’s mother, Anique Legault, and her twin brother, Eric, who were sitting in the front seat, were injured. The group was returning from a weekend in Toronto. The Laval family should never have crossed paths with the careless trucker.

In fact, the man, now 26, was not authorized to be behind the wheel at the time of the collision.

Mehkadeep Singh, during the fierce conflict. Court of Honor of Ontario

Court of Honor of Ontario

A police investigation revealed that he had falsified his registration book and exceeded the permissible hourly service limit for truck drivers.

The company he worked for, Snowflake Express Inc., still uses electronic reports and paper. Electronic reporting is mandatory in Canada.

A difficult apology

Thus, Singh’s paper reports differed from electronic reports.

The mileage of the Volvo truck recorded in the log book is different from the movements seen in the videos. The GPS data did not match the logbook entries seized at the crime scene.

Volvo truck driven by Mehgadeep Singh. Courtesy of Ontario Court

Courtesy of Ontario Court

These false entries in the computer required the driver to be taken off the road for 72 hours, court documents read.

In addition to the five-year jail sentence, he will also be banned from driving for seven years. Later we learned that he would be deported.

“Of course I would have liked him to have received a more severe sentence, but in my view no sentence would be enough for the taking of three lives,” said Anik Legault, who traveled to Ontario to attend the hearing.