Teen crushed to death during Montreal St. Patrick’s parade

MONTREAL — Organizers of Montreal’s St. Patrick’s parade were in shock Sunday night after a 19-year-old man was run over and killed by a parade float downtown, the first fatality in the history of the 186-year-old event.

“We are terribly saddened by what happened,” said Gerald Showers, vice-president of the United Irish Societies of Montreal, which organized the parade. “This is a real blow to us and to Montrealers.”

The accident happened just after 2 p.m. near the end of the parade.

The man and a friend had climbed on to the Marianopolis College float and got off when the truck came to a stop, Montreal police said. When the truck started up again, the man lost his footing and was crushed under the right front wheels of the large eighteen-wheeler, Const. Daniel Lacoursiere said.

It is the second time someone has been hit by a parade float. In 2002, a Concordia University student had his pelvis crushed when a truck carrying a float ran over him.

After interviewing people who were with the victim Sunday, it is clear alcohol was a factor, said Montreal police Const. Anie Lemieux.

Cold, rainy weather kept the usual battalions of families with small children and dogs with kerchiefs away from downtown Sunday. That left much of the parade route to the young, hardy and, all too often, very drunk. Police arrested one person for violating a municipal bylaw against public drunkenness and issued many warnings, Lemieux said.

Emergency personnel were on the site immediately after witnesses started screaming to stop the truck.

Lacoursiere said the truck had to drive forward so ambulance technicians could get to the victim. The victim had been killed immediately, and there were no attempts to resuscitate him, Lacoursiere said.

A plastic sheet was placed over the body while investigators questioned witnesses and took photos of the scene.

After the accident, security personnel moved everyone back from the area. The youth who had been riding on the truck with the victim suffered shock and was taken to a hospital.

Shortly after the accident stopped the parade, ladders were brought in to take the shaken and clearly distraught revellers off the Marianopolis float. Tears were streaming down the cheeks of many of the female participants, smudging the shamrock face paint many of them sported.

Showers said he was at the reviewing stand at Phillips Square when the accident occurred and rushed to the scene.

“I consoled the young lady who was in charge of the float,” he said. “I had her in my arms a good 15 minutes or so to make sure she was all right.”

The victim was not affiliated with Marianopolis in any way, college spokesperson Kathryn Haralambous said. There were about two dozen students, alumni, faculty and staff on the float, she said. The victim was not walking as part of the college’s contingent, she said.

“It’s a shock because (the parade) is a Marianopolis tradition,” Haralambous said. “Everyone is quite upset.”

For at least 10 minutes, a troupe of rhythmic baton twirlers following the Marianopolis float gamely kept performing, with no one telling them what had happened.

After a brief delay, the parade was officially cancelled and the remaining floats and groups were detoured.

“There was no reason to continue to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day,” Showers said. “It was not a festive event any longer.”

Montreal Gazette