Hanes: Longueuil mayor fights for transparency in the Nooran Rezayi case

The circumstances surrounding fatal police shootings in Quebec almost always remain shrouded in fog, unless dragged out into the open by a public inquiry or a civil lawsuit.

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When the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes closes a file, the office charged with shedding light on police interventions that result in injury or death puts out a brief summary of its work. But details are scarce, explanations are lacking, and the paltry record for charges being laid after a BEI investigation is left to speak for itself.

The public is just supposed to trust that nothing untoward occurred, that everything happened by the book and that tragedy could not have been averted.

That’s what makes recent developments in the death of 15-year-old Nooran Rezayi, who was shot and killed by Longueuil police on a sunny Sunday afternoon in September, so remarkable.

Lawyers for Nooran’s family, who are suing Longueuil police officers and the city for more than $2 million, released home security camera footage last week that exposed the final seconds of the teen’s life.

The video shows a group of kids sitting calmly on the curb of a residential neighbourhood. Suddenly, all but one of them jump up and sprint out of the frame, before a police cruiser comes tearing around the corner.

Off camera, an officer can be heard shouting to get on the ground. Then two shots ring out.

Eleven seconds elapse between

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