Legault joins Sûreté du Québec in mourning officer killed in the line of duty

This image of part of an SQ police officer's uniform was taken in Montreal on Sept. 10, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi)

Quebec provincial police are mourning the loss of an officer who was killed in the line of her duties.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) announced Tuesday that Sgt. Anaïs Fortin-Cozzens was killed in Portneuf-sur-Mer, about 300 kilometres northeast of Quebec City in the province’s Côte-Nord region.

The SQ said at around 10:45 a.m., officers from the Haute Côte-Nord MRC were called to Route 138 in Portneuf-sur-Mer following a collision involving three vehicles. At least four people were injured, two of them seriously, the police said in a press release.

One of them was Sgt. Fortin-Cozzens, who was on her way to police headquarters. She was taken to hospital where she later died from her injuries.

The driver of a pickup truck that was involved in the three-car crash is expected to survive. Two other people suffered minor injuries.

“Our thoughts are with the family, loved ones, and colleagues of investigator Anaïs Fortin-Cozzens, who died in the line of duty today in Portneuf-sur-Mer. We extend our deepest condolences to them and wish to honour her work,” the SQ said in a social media post.

Premier François Legault called it a “tragic death.”

“My thoughts are with her loved ones and her colleagues, who are deeply saddened by this loss,” Legault wrote in a post on X.

“Every day, men and women work to keep us safe, often at the risk of their own lives. We will not forget them.”

Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière also expressed his condolences online.

“Investigator Fortin-Cozzens died in the line of duty, but she will never be forgotten,” he said.

With files from The Canadian Press