A waiter at a Sherbrooke, Que., restaurant was arrested Wednesday for serving salmon to a highly allergic customer in a case one expert says could be a Canadian first. 
 
 Simon-Pierre Canuel, a resident of Gatineau, Que., filed a formal complaint against the server at Le Tapageur restaurant after he says he nearly died from his meal. 
 
 The waiter could be charged with criminal negligence. 
 
 More on this story: 
 
 According to the complaint, on May 29, Canuel ordered a beef tartare and alerted the waiter that he was allergic to salmon and seafood, said Sherbrooke police Const. Martin Carrier. 
 
 "At the time of the order, the waiter took no notes and never went to the kitchen to talk with staff," Carrier said. 
 
 When the meal arrived, an unsuspecting Canuel took a bite of his food. 
 
 'I'm still afraid at times that I'll fall asleep and never wake up. I have anxiety attacks. There are times when I have heart palpitations, sweating attacks, etc.' - Simon-Pierre Canuel 
 
 "With the dim lighting, it's not easy to tell the difference between two dishes, especially if they use mayonnaise. It can be confusing," Canuel said. 
 
 He soon realized he wasn't eating beef and informed his partner, who is a resident doctor. 
 
 "He confirmed that it was salmon and he said we had to go to hospital. We told the waiter, who apologized, saying he would bring me beef," Canuel recalled. 
 
 "That's when I started going into anaphylactic shock and having difficulty breathing." 
 
 Canuel had left his EpiPen in his car. 
 
 He was hospitalized at the intensive care unit of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, where he was treated for a severe allergic reaction. 
 
 He says he also suffered a cardiac arrest the following day and was in a coma for several days. 
 
 "I almost died," he said. 
 
 Prison sentence unlikely 
 
 Canuel filed a formal complaint with Sherbrooke police on July 21. 
 
 Police met with witnesses before arresting the waiter, a 22-year-old man, this week. 
 
 He was released with a promise to appear in court at a later date. 
 
 Canuel alleged the waiter didn't inform the cooks of the allergy and instead was chatting, laughing and drinking alcohol with other guests. 
 
 Though it will be up to Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions to decide whether charges will be laid, Carrier says the circumstances meet the conditions for a criminal negligence charge. 
 
 Criminal lawyer Simon Roy says a potential criminal negligence case against a waiter would be a first in Canada. (Radio-Canada) 
 
 Simon Roy, a law professor at the University of Sherbrooke, agrees, and says a conviction for criminal negligence could result in anything from a fine to life in prison. 
 
 But based on similar cases, he added, the waiter is unlikely to get a prison sentence. 
 
 A Canadian first? 
 
 Though similar allegations have been made against doctors and workers in other service industries, one crime lawyer says this particular case could be unprecedented in the country. 
 
 "For a waiter, I haven't found one in Canada. This would indeed be the first time," said Roy. 
 
 "This kind of story is practically unheard of," echoed Carrier, the police spokesman. 
 
 "It's excessively rare." 
 
 Restaurant won't comment 
 
 The owner of Le Tapageur, a tapas bar in Sherbrooke, Que., has yet to comment on the situation. (Google Maps) 
 
 Canuel is also considering civil action and a first formal notice has been sent to the restaurant. He said the restaurant never reached out to him following the incident. 
 
 "I was never contacted. Never," he said. 
 
 Though he's made it out of the ordeal, Canuel said he's still suffering from the effects of that ill-fated meal. 
 
 "I'm still afraid at times that I'll fall asleep and never wake up," he said. 
 
 "I have anxiety attacks. There are times when I have heart palpitations, sweating attacks, etc." 
 
 The owner of Le Tapageur told Radio-Canada she wouldn't comment on the situation "before speaking to her lawyer." 

 Editor’s note: This story was originally published Aug. 4, 2016. 
 
 Police arrested a young restaurant employee in Sherbrooke Wednesday after he served salmon tartare to a customer who was severely allergic. 
 
 The incident occurred at the restaurant in May, after the customer ordered beef tartare, having told the waiter he was allergic to fish. However, the server ended up serving salmon, and with the lighting in the restaurant, the customer was not able to tell so he took a bite. 
 
 The man was taken to a hospital, where he stayed for several weeks. At one point, he was even in a coma. He recently left the hospital, having made a full recovery. 
 
 Sherbrooke Police Constable Martin Carrier, said the man could face charges of criminal negligence.
– When Quebec resident Simon-Pierre Canuel went to dinner at Le Tapageur restaurant with his partner in late May, he ordered beef tartare and says he repeatedly told their server that he is allergic to seafood. But when he began to eat he quickly realized he'd gotten the salmon tartare instead. "With the dim lighting, it's not easy to tell the difference between two dishes, especially if they use mayonnaise. It can be confusing," Canuel explains. Just after the waiter apologized and said he'd bring beef, Canuel—whose EpiPen was in his car—went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to the hospital. Not only did he go into cardiac arrest the next day, but he was in a coma for a couple days after that. "I almost died," he tells the CBC. Canuel alleges that the waiter didn't take notes or tell the cooks about his allergy; was talking, laughing, and drinking with other customers; and that the restaurant made no attempt to contact him after the event. In July he filed a formal complaint with police, who interviewed witnesses and arrested the 22-year-old server after searching his home, reports the Montreal Gazette. It is now up to Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions to determine whether charges such as criminal negligence will be brought. One crime attorney tells the CBC that this could be the first such charge made against a server in Canada—something so "excessively rare" that it is "practically unheard of," adds a police spokesperson. (This family endured applause after their son's allergic reaction on a plane forced them to disembark.)