Two grandparents and their infant grandchild were among four people killed in a fiery crash east of Toronto on Monday, after police pursued a robbery suspect driving the wrong way on Highway 401, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
Monica Hudon, spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said the robbery suspect was also killed in the collision, which involved at least six vehicles.
All four people were pronounced dead at the scene on Highway 401 in Whitby, about 50 kilometres east of Toronto, Hudon said. Another person was taken to hospital with significant injuries, she added.
The pursuit began at an LCBO location in nearby Clarington, when an off-duty officer reported an attempted theft to Durham Regional Police at around 7:50 p.m. ET.
So somebody stole some booze and cops thought it warranted a high speed chase that resulted in 4 deaths.
ACAB
Regardless of how the police handled it, this is the end result of the criminals’ actions. Had they not chosen to steal from the store, and chosen to drive incredibly dangerously in an attempt to avoid punishment for that theft, none of this would have happened.
The majority of the blame goes to the person who set this entire chain of events in motion.
There’s this thing called critical thinking skills and they are important to function in society.
Many cops seem to be lacking those.
The way I see it it takes two to tango, so go ahead and place all the blame on the criminal, of course they initiated the immediate chain of events, now IMO the police share equal responsibility for this outcome when they choose to continue such a high-risk pursuit over such a petty crime.
Didn’t some Ontario police detachments decide not to pursue high speed chases because of this kind of thing? I thought I heard about that in the late 90s or early 2000s.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Monica Hudon, spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said the robbery suspect was also killed in the collision, which involved at least six vehicles.
The pursuit began at an LCBO location in nearby Clarington, when an off-duty officer reported an attempted theft to Durham Regional Police at around 7:50 p.m.
A video circulating on X, formerly Twitter, shows what appears to be a rental van speeding through oncoming traffic with Durham police vehicles close behind.
In another video captured from a different angle and posted to social media, a badly damaged transport truck can be seen wrecked against the concrete median at the collision scene.
Whether it was appropriate for Durham police to pursue the cargo van as it drove the wrong way on the province’s busiest highway will be part of the investigation, Hudon said.
The SIU is an arms-length agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in incidents that may have resulted in death, serious injury or the discharge of a firearm.
The original article contains 486 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
