A family was “torn apart” early Sunday morning when a 19-year-old allegedly driving drunk lost control on a Highway 401 off-ramp and crashed into their car, killing three children and injuring three others.
Police allege that the Georgetown man was driving a minivan at a high rate of speed when he lost control on the off-ramp, drove over a raised median on Renforth Drive and crashed into the family’s vehicle, which was sitting at a red light.
Two boys, ages 13 and 15, were pronounced dead at the scene. A six-year-old girl was rushed to hospital but later died. Three others — including the children’s mother, her 10-year-old son and another adult — were seriously injured.
“This is a tragic collision that took away three children’s lives,” pc28police Acting Insp. Baheer Sarbanandan said. “A family is torn apart.”
Police responded to the collision just after 12:30 a.m. on Sunday after a 2015 Dodge Caravan hit a north-facing 2022 Chrysler Pacifica.
The Pacifica’s driver, a 40-year-old man, along with two passengers, a 35-year-old mother and her son, were rushed to trauma centres with non-life-threatening injuries.
One person’s decision to drive impaired wound up being “a fatal decision,” Sarbanandan said.
The crash is one of the worst since three children and their grandfather were killed after an impaired driver ran a stop sign in Vaughan in 2015, crashing into the family’s vehicle. Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to impaired driving causing death and bodily harm.
Muzzo’s blood-alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit when the incident took place. As part of his sentence, he was banned from driving for 12 years.
“I’m heartbroken after hearing the news,” Jennifer Neville-Lake, the mother of the children killed in the 2015 crash Sunday. “I am so so sorry.”
pc28police arrested Ethan Lehouillier at the collision scene on Renforth Drive near the Highway 401 eastbound off-ramp. He has been charged with three counts each of impaired operation causing death, impaired operation causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
The crash left debris strewn across the roadway near the ramp to Highway 427 South from Renforth Drive.
Steve Sullivan, the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, said MADD Canada is in touch with the friends and family with the victims of the collision.
“It is frustrating that we’re talking yet again about potentially another impaired driving crash that had left a family devastated,” Sullivan said. “We try to get the message out, and there’s so much work being done, but sadly, it just keeps happening to so many families.”
Sullivan said people who choose to drive under the influence often don’t consider the possibility of harming themselves or others before getting behind the wheel, according to surveys MADD has conducted.
Young men are the highest risk category for impaired driving, Sullivan noted.
“They don’t have very far to go, they think they can drive careful and all they’re worried about is seeing a police officer,” Sullivan said.
In Canada, if impaired driving causes injury, the driver can face up to 14 years in prison. If it causes death, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
While Sullivan said many families MADD works with believe sentencing should be stricter for impaired driving, Sullivan does not believe harsher penalties will have a significant deterrent effect.
“In 50 per cent or higher of fatalities, it’s the driver who’s actually killed, so no one thinks they’re going to be the person who kills or injures somebody,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford offered his condolences and said he was “heartbroken” by the news.
“My thoughts are with the families grieving this unimaginable loss of life,” , adding that he wants the person responsible to see the “harshest punishment possible.”
The mangled remains of two vehicles were towed away from the crash site at around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, as police continued their investigation at the scene of the fatal crash.
Fire crews left the scene shortly before 11 a.m., but three police cruisers remained on site, two of which were being used to block vehicle and pedestrian access to Renforth Drive near the crash site. Access to Renforth Drive was closed at Eglinton Avenue West. Roads reopened by mid-afternoon.
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Emergency responders at the scene of a deadly crash which tore seats from a vehicle and left a trail of debris.
R.J. Johnston / pc28StarFATAL COLLISION: 2/2
— pc28Police Operations (@TPSOperations)
- Solo occupant of vehicle, a male driver, 19 was arrested at the scene and faces Impaired Driving related charges
- Renforth Drive remains closed in the area for investigation
- Witnesses, contact 416-808-1900
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