Cruel Twist of Fate

[Zoneboy]

Link

MONTREAL — The head-on crash that killed Renee Bourbeau was much like many other drunk-driving accidents on Canadian roads — except for one horrible coincidence.

The alleged drunk driver who smashed into Bourbeau’s minivan was her husband, Patrick Laflamme.

That reality is weighing heavily on a Quebec family attempting to come to grips with the death of Bourbeau, described as sweet-natured sister, gentle aunt and devoted mother.

"It’s extremely hard right now and my entire family wants a piece of Patrick — everyone is really upset," Emmanuelle Bourbeau, the victim’s sister, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

"My sister had no business to leave us so soon."

Laflamme allegedly plowed his truck into the van the 41-year-old mother of two was driving on Saturday evening in Drummondville, Que.

Laflamme, 36, was charged in his hospital bed on Tuesday with drunk driving causing death. He was recovering from leg fractures and head lacerations.

Quebec provincial police say Laflamme had left a local bar and was just minutes from home when the spectacular crash occurred.

Renee Bourbeau had been with Laflamme at the bar earlier in the evening and had left without him.

Later, police allege, Laflamme was driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic and slammed into his wife’s vehicle in the 90 km/h zone.

Detectives weighed whether they were dealing with a tragic accident or a premeditated act and decided it couldn’t be the latter, said police spokesman Louis-Philippe Ruel.

Ruel said darkness had settled in just after 8 p.m. and a heavy rainfall had made visibility poor and the roadway slick. "Afterwards, we found that the man and the woman were a couple and it was the unhappiest of circumstances that they met on the road that night," Ruel said.

Bourbeau died in hospital a few hours after the collision.

Adam Bourbeau, 20, a nephew of the victim, said he has met Laflamme on a handful of occasions and called the roofer a charismatic guy.

Emmanuelle Bourbeau said Laflamme’s drinking was the cause of some friction in her family but he seemed to be a hard-working, affable guy.

The couple were about to celebrate their two-year anniversary this week and things were going well, she said.

Laflamme and Renee Bourbeau, who had previously owned a marketing business in Drummondville, recently worked roofing jobs together and she helped him install temporary car shelters.

"My sister was the most generous person on earth, the person who always helped others and she always had a solution to everything," Emmanuelle Bourbeau said.

[Janice]

Wow, that's awful. How in the world do you live with yourself after that? That poor woman and her family.

[Lee]

Why do people have to do something as stupid as driving drunk?

[PlayOn]

God's way of saying don't drink and drive/don't drive drunk. Like Janice said, I couldn't live with myself.

[InspectorExstead]

Oh man...that is so terrible and so sad.
I don't understand why people drink AND drive. There are ways around that. Innocent people should not be killed because someone was an idiot and couldn't find a way to get home without driving.

[80sTrivia]

Absolutely horrible...