August 10, 2011 (Montreal, QC) – Police now have arrested a suspect in a 2006 hit-and-run case that killed a noted member of the Quebec cycling community reports The Gazette.  Back on October 20, Robert Brisson, a 43-year-old father of two, was riding from the Peak Centre for Human Performance, a cycling centre where he was a partner, on his way to the Mercier Bridge and to his home in Ste. Catherine. A truck owned by Cooney transport company hit and killed Brisson as he was riding through Lachine’s industrial park.

On Monday, a 47-year-old man turned himself in to police and has been charged with failure to stop at the scene of an accident. Alain Gaudreault made a brief appearance in Quebec Court on Tuesday before being released on bail. His next court appearance is Sept. 29.

Brisson’s widow, Sylvie Guilbault, reportedly only learned of these developments from The Gazette and had not yet been contacted by police.

“I gave Sylvie’s telephone number to The Gazette,” Brisson’s friend and business partner, Pierre Hutsebaut told Pedal. “It’s a sad story, but at least there’s some relief now that we have some answers. This break in the case was unexpected. I still miss Robert and still remember him leaving the Peak Centre on that rainy Friday in October and saying ‘a demain’ to me. But, of course, there was no tomorrow for Robert. He also told me that it was getting too dark to commute to work by bike and that, once home, he would hang up his bike for the season.”

Apart from his work at Peak Centre, Brisson was a prominent amateur cyclist and Veloptimum reports that he was the Quebec track champion in 2005. Brisson also coached the Vélo Club Sud-Ouest with Czeslaw Lukaszewicz. The Gazette calls him ‘an inspirational coach’.

Read the Gazette article HERE.