Manslaughter charge for man arrested after fatal collision

A man who was arrested after two cars collided in northern Montreal earlier this week, causing the death of a 76-year-old driver, has been charged with manslaughter.

Chayanne O’Neill Peralta-Garcia, 22, will be detained over the weekend and is scheduled to have a bail hearing on Monday at the Montreal courthouse after having made a brief appearance before Quebec Court Judge Joëlle Roy. Besides being charged with manslaughter, which is rare in cases involving car crashes, Peralta- Garcia is also charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing the death of Jean-Libord Jeanty.

Peralta-Garcia’s lawyer asked the charges not be read into the court record so the accused was not required to enter a plea. As Peralta-Garcia was being ushered out of the prisoner’s dock, he blew kisses toward a large group of young people who apparently attended the court hearing to support him.

Jeanty died several hours after he was taken to a hospital in critical condition after his car collided with another shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of Charland Ave. and de Lille St.

Montreal police came upon the aftermath of the collision while responding to reports of gunfire along Charland Ave. Police said on Thursday they found what appeared to be bullet holes on Peralta-Garcia’s car and theorized he might have been fleeing from an attempt on his life when his car struck Jeanty’s. They also said they believe Jeanty had no involvement in the shooting and was likely an innocent victim of whatever had transpired earlier on Charland Ave.

At the time of his arrest on Thursday morning, Peralta- Garcia was the subject of a summons to appear at the Montreal courthouse on Sept. 14 in an unrelated matter.

He was accused of failing to comply with a probation order. The charge is related to a sentence Peralta-Garcia received on Sept. 3, 2015, after he pleaded guilty to credit-card fraud. He was sentenced to two years of probation.