Police from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) curbed a public danger driver who came very close to driving in the opposite direction on a highway to evade police Wednesday morning in the Laurentians.
Around 8 a.m., SQ officers received a message from their colleagues in Saint-Jerome asking them to keep a close eye on a suspicious vehicle that was traveling without a license plate and whose driver refused to stop during the interception attempt.
Police quickly spotted the vehicle in question at mile 53 of Highway 15 North.
Patrol officers began to pursue him, but the driver again refused to stop.
“The pursuit began northbound, where the suspect made several U-turns on Highway 15 before police neutralized the vehicle as he attempted to travel in the opposite direction on the highway into Saint-Sauveur,” detailed Sergeant Mark Tessier, SQ spokesman.
We have identified the driver arrested as Jermaine-Ja Payne, 31, of Piedmont in the Laurentian Mountains. He was due to appear Wednesday afternoon at the Saint-Jerome courthouse on charges of dangerous driving, escape, obstructing police officers and driving while prohibited.
Indeed, Payne was under a national driving ban at the time of the incident.
The suspect should also receive various fines, including for speeding, making an illegal U-turn on a highway, and driving a vehicle under prohibited conditions.
Jermaine-Ja Payne captivated the entire population of Prince Edward Island in July 2024 when he initiated several police pursuits, all of which were abandoned due to the risk they posed to the population.
During his escape, Payne stole two cars and filled several tanks with gas without paying while speeding around the island. During his six-day escape, four police officers followed him.
He was eventually caught thanks to a roadblock set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Payne abandoned his car, stripped naked and jumped into the pond, where he was clinging to a buoy.
Jermaine-Ja Payne pleaded guilty to 21 charges and was sentenced in November 2024 to 28 months in prison.
The court also imposed a three-year driving ban upon his release.
In Quebec, Payne has had several run-ins with the law over the past decade. In particular, in 2016, he was sentenced to six years in prison for using an imitation firearm in the commission of a crime, obtaining material benefits from human trafficking, and breaking and entering with the intent to commit a criminal offense.