Crash kills one, injures another on Kennedy Road

Updated: Tue Oct. 13 2009 3:14:07 PM
Courtesy of ctvtoronto.ca (complete story with video, click here)

Toronto police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a fatal minivan crash on Kennedy Road, which killed one man and left another man seriously injured on Tuesday morning.

"It was just like a 'bang,' and then I saw smoke from the fire. The vehicle was on fire," witness Keysha Salter told CTV Toronto.

Sgt. Tim Burrows told ctvtoronto.ca that police were called to the crash scene at approximately 6:55 a.m.

A blue Chrysler minivan was headed southbound on Kennedy Road, north of Ellesmere Road, when it struck the centre median between the northbound and southbound lanes.

A truck driver helped put the fire out. A passing TTC bus driver helped pull the driver from the vehicle.

The 27-year-old male driver was taken to hospital. He was originally thought to have life-threatening injuries, but is injuries are now considered to be serious but non-life-threatening.
The 39-year-old male passenger from Brampton, Ont., died at the scene of massive head injuries. He is Toronto's 29th traffic fatality of 2009.

He was partially ejected from the vehicle as a result of the crash, Burrows said.
Initial indications are that the minivan was travelling at "a high rate of speed" at the time of the crash, Burrows said.

Police are currently investigating reports that the minivan was fleeing from the scene of another collision -- involving another vehicle that was hit on the ramp off the eastbound Highway 401 onto Kennedy Road -- that occurred only moments before the fatal crash.

Brad Becker, driver of the pickup truck rear-ended before the fatal crash, said: "He just rear-ended me and pushed me out in the intersection. By the time I got my bearings, looked around, the van was gone. I could see it going down south Kennedy."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the traffic services office at 416-808-1900.