A man has been charged in the death of a 21-year-old who died after an altercation with guards while he was unlawfully detained at a Montreal jail in 2022.
Quebec provincial police say the 54-year-old suspect was arrested Thursday and charged with manslaughter in the death of Nicous D’André Spring.
Sébastien Bossé was released on a promise to appear in court at a future date.
Spring died on Christmas Eve 2022 after guards at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail fitted his head with a spit hood and pepper-sprayed him twice.
Quebec’s Public Security Department described Spring’s detention as “illegal” because he had been ordered released the day before the altercation.
The death prompted Spring’s family and a civil rights group to call for an inquiry into systemic racism in the provincial detention system.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025.