The Montreal police have obtained a warrant to arrest a Kirkland man in a manslaughter case that occurred in September.
The suspect in the case is Glen Crossley, 46, the same man who killed Olympic swimmer Victor Davis in a hit and run accident in Ste-Anne de Bellevue on Nov. 11, 1989. Davis had won a gold and silver medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984. He died of brain damage two days after Crossley struck him with his Honda Civic.
In 1992, Crossley received a 10-month prison term after hitting Davis along with one year of probation. In a case that made headlines across Canada, Crossley admitted he drove away from the scene of the accident. But less than an hour after Davis was struck, Crossley turned himself into police and reported that someone had thrown a bottle at his windshield while he was driving through Ste-Anne de Bellevue. The judge who sentenced Crossley called his version of what happened an “unbelievable explanation.”
Albert Arsenault.
In the more recent case, Crossley is charged with the Sept. 17 death of Albert Arsenault, a 70-year-old man who had two children and two grandchildren. A death notice posted by Arsenault’s family in September notes he died in LaSalle. The arrest warrant does not provide details on how Arsenault was killed.
Crossley’s defence lawyer, Gilbert Frigon, advised the Montreal Gazette on Monday by email that Crossley has turned himself in to police and had communicated with investigators as soon as he learned of the warrant on Saturday.
Reached by phone on Monday, Arsenault’s widow, Lise Hurtubise, said her husband was attacked inside the Bar Station 77 on Newman Blvd. in LaSalle and that he fell down stairs before his head hit a ceramic surface. He died hours after being taken to a hospital.
“It was all captured on video,” Hurtubise said, adding she believes Arsenault was attacked and was not involved in a fight before he died.
“He was a good person. He was loved by everyone who knew him. He helped out anyone who asked for help,” Hurtubise said, while adding her husband volunteered regularly at a day centre for the elderly close to where the couple lived.
The victim’s daughter, Rachel Arsenault, said her father was “a legend” in her neighbourhood for having done good deeds.
“Whenever I went grocery shopping with him everyone would say ‘Hey Albert!’ and smile at him,” the daughter said, while adding she is not impressed with how the Montreal police handled the investigation.
She said her brother were initially told by the Montreal police that their father simply fell down some stairs and considered his death as an accident.
She said she and her brother began hearing rumours the day after their father died and learned that a man who allegedly pushed her father had warned everyone else inside the bar to keep their mouth shut.
“It was through our our digging that we learned that the guy who (allegedly) pushed him was Glen Crossley and that he was responsible for killing Victor Davis,” Rachel Arsenault said.
A spokesperson for the Montreal police said he was unable to confirm the details surrounding Arsenault’s death.
The warrant for Crossley’s arrest was issued on Friday and, according to court records, he has yet to appear in court.
