Ottawa tanker-truck company owner criminally charged in 2022 fatal bast
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/09/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The owner of an Ottawa tanker-truck company is facing criminal charges for his alleged role in a 2022 explosion that killed six workers and seriously injured a seventh.
Ottawa police say 51-year-old Neil Greene is facing six counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The criminal charges come a year after Greene and the company were convicted of provincial health and safety offences for allegedly failing to take reasonable precautions related to the blast.
The provincial case alleged that the January 2022 explosion was partly the result of test fuel used to check for leaks in newly built tanker trucks being contaminated with gasoline.
Following a guilty plea in that case, the company was fined $600,000 and Greene was fined $80,000.
Lawyers for Greene say in a statement that there’s no basis for criminal negligence charges and “public pressure is no substitute for evidence.”
The explosion killed Richard Bastien, Daniel Beale, Kayla Ferguson, Matthew Kearney, Etienne Mabiala and Russell McLellan.
Tanner Clement, now 36, was seriously injured.
Greene is expected to make his first court appearance on the charges next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2025.