Woman sitting at picnic table in Ste-Sophie dies after teen driver hits wrong pedal in parking lot

Montreal Gazette

5 days ago

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STE-SOPHIE — A 73-year-old woman died Saturday after being struck by a vehicle while sitting at a picnic table outside a snack bar and ice-cream shop in Ste-Sophie, a Laurentian community about 70 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Emergency services were called to the Ste-Sophie Blvd. establishment at about 1 p.m., Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Stéphane Tremblay said on Sunday. The victim was transported in critical condition to a hospital, where her death was declared later that afternoon.
The driver of the vehicle, a 16-year-old male, was uninjured but taken to a hospital to be treated for nervous shock. He had a learner's permit and was accompanied in the vehicle by at least one parent, said Tremblay.
Security camera footage of the incident showed the young driver approach a parking spot in front of the establishment slowly: He then appears to have stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake and hit the picnic table at Les Sentiers des Saveurs at which the victim, a St-Jérôme resident, was seated.
The initial police report said no criminal element was suspected and attributed the event to a wrong move made as a result of inexperience.
The vehicle crashed through the establishment's glass window. A young girl who was with the victim was slightly injured, Tremblay said. The temperature hit 32 degrees Celsius in Ste-Sophie on Saturday and dozens of people were in line waiting for ice cream or other refreshments when the collision took place. There were a number of witnesses to the incident and Les Sentiers des Saveurs closed for the rest of the day.
Several witnesses and patrons posted comments on the establishment's Facebook page on Saturday praising the actions of staff and those who came to the aid of the victim. A post on Sunday said: 'Following yesterday's events, if any of you who were present at the site or if a loved one was, do not hesitate to contact 811 a crisis management cell is there to take care of you. ... Let's look out for each other.'
An investigator specializing in accident reconstruction was at the scene Saturday to establish the causes and circumstances of the event and photos of the scene were taken, Tremblay said. As well, the coroner asked for an assessment of the vehicle. The coroner is automatically involved when a collision involves a fatality, he explained.