Dead snowmobiler is Gatineau man, 24

MRC Des Collines police have identified the victim in Saturday’s fatal snowmobile crash on Lac St. Pierre. Joël St-Pierre Monette, 24, of Gatineau was racing a friend on the lake in Val-des-Monts around 5 p.m. when his snowmobile struck a snow bank. Monette was ejected from the snowmobile and thrown through the air. He was taken to the hospital in Wakefield, where he was pronounced dead. According to a release, a toxicology test will be run to determine Monette’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash, but police say he was riding a borrowed snowmobile that was unlicensed and uninsured, and that Monette had very little experience with the vehicles.