An Ontario mom is speaking out two years after an OPP officer driving the speeding vehicle that struck and killed her 25-year-old son was promoted shortly after the collision.
Coreena Jones says it doesn’t make sense why that officer would go from being a detective constable to detective sergeant in the wake of her son Noah Landriault’s death. The promotion comes with a pay raise that appears to be higher than the penalty imposed in Ontario’s police misconduct system.
“It felt like another stab in the heart,” Jones said in an interview as she shared photos of Landriault, a talented lacrosse player and native of Midland, Ont.
“When somebody’s life was taken and their family and friends are affected forever in ways that are absolutely detrimental, there needs to be more seriousness placed on that,” she said.
When asked by CTV News, the OPP offered condolences for what it called a “serious and tragic incident” and said it “imposed disciplinary action in alignment with legislation,” pointing out that Det. Sgt. Rebecca Lindsay was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
But OPP spokesperson Sgt. Joe Brisebois didn’t address the promotion directly, saying, in general, “Discipline on a member’s record is part of a comprehensive internal assessment of a candidate in job competitions in the OPP.”
‘The absolute light of my life’
Landriault died on Sept. 29, 2024, after he was hit while walking across Muskoka Road 169 in Bala, Ont., just before 6 a.m.
“He was 25 years old. He was the absolute light of my life,” Jones said.
Losing him was “honestly the most devastating thing that I could have ever gone through in my life,” she said.
The unmarked OPP vehicle, a Jeep, was driven by then-Det. Const. Rebecca Lindsay. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit investigated the crash and found she was speeding about 25 km/h over the posted speed limit of 50 km/h in a community safety zone.
The speed limits are reduced by about 10 km/h shortly outside the small town. The SIU found no grounds to lay criminal charges.
Jones took the case to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, or LECA. In her statement to the LECA investigators, Lindsay said she thought that Landriault and a friend were a deer, and “as soon as [she] observed them, she braked hard, having no time to avoid contact.
The report says Lindsay stopped the vehicle, got out, and performed first aid until first responders arrived.
LECA found that Lindsay had committed misconduct “by exceeding the speed limit, she did not operate her vehicle in a manner that promotes employee safety or fosters a positive public perception.”
As of that report’s date, LECA referred to Lindsay as a detective constable. By March 2026, she was referred to as Detective Sergeant Lindsay, according to a letter that outlined her punishment: 40 hours forfeited.
That works out to about $2,370, according to the salaries of that rank in the OPP’s posted collective agreement.
According to the same agreement, the pay bump for that promotion is about $6,300 a year.
Promotion ‘an extra difficulty for us’: mom
“For our family, it was very hard to hear that Noah’s life was worth 40 hours. And then, on top of that, to have her be rewarded and be promoted was an extra difficulty for us,” Jones said.
Road safety advocate Jess Spieker, with Friends and Families for Safe Streets, said the OPP needs to give a safety record like that much more weight in its promotions process.
“In any other job sector, that person would be fired,” Spieker said in an interview. “If killing someone does not make you ineligible for a promotion, what would?”
It’s not clear exactly when Lindsay was promoted or whether the promotion process began.
The OPP said she was promoted in 2024, which would mean it happened under three months after the death but before the finding of misconduct.
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The Ontario Provincial Police Association, which represents OPP officers, also didn’t address the promotion directly but offered condolences as well.
“We understand the significant public interest in policing and the importance of maintaining public trust and confidence, especially during such difficult times. It is crucial to recognize that criminal responsibility, professional misconduct, and employment decisions are distinct areas with specific processes and considerations when determining outcomes,” the OPPA statement says.
The OPPA couldn’t put CTV News in touch with Linsday herself.
It’s not the first time the OPP has been criticized for how it responded to another accidental death at the wheel in 2020.
The police service initially classified the misconduct leading to the death of Tyler Dorzyk as not “serious,” which took away some procedural rights for the complainant.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled later that the OPP’s classification was “unreasonable” and that the OPP failed to justify why it did not consider the conduct serious.
Jones thinks if Lindsay’s promotion happened so soon after a tragic incident, it’s a sign that the OPP’s promotion standards need to be overhauled so the event isn’t seen by the public as a reward for deadly misconduct.
“It just seems to send a ‘We’re above the law’ message, which is not something I teach my children and not something I think should be out there in the public. Because if we want people to become accountable for their actions, we need to start at the source, at the people who are supposed to be enforcing our laws,” she said.
