Laval police are relieved.
After a 12 year legal battle, the force has been cleared of civil responsibility in a drug raid that left one of their own dead.
A court has ruled that Laval owes nothing to the ex-wife and children of a suspected drug dealer whose home was raided early one morning in 2007.
Evidence presented during the proceedings established that Basil Parasiris was high on cocaine, booze and Ativan when he opened fire on the officers who'd burst into his home in Brossard. One of his shots killed Laval officer Daniel Tessier.
Return fire from the police wounded Parasiris' wife in the arm.
Parasiris was eventually acquitted of a murder charge in the officer's death. He testified that he shot in self-defense, not realizing that the people entering his home at five o'clock in the morning were police officers.
He did plead guilty to weapons offenses, and was sentenced to 20 months in jail.
The Laval Police Department was furious when the Parasiris family then sued for $250,000 in damages.
As La Presse reports, Superior Court has now ruled that the raid, while not perfect in its execution, was conducted as per the procedures at the time.
The judge decided that Parasiris himself was to blame for any negative effects on his wife, and on his young children, who were described as traumatized by the raid.