Toronto police say one person has now died after a multi-vehicle crash that shut down an intersection in Scarborough.
Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), says it is now investigating the collision.
The incident involved the pursuit of a stolen vehicle and turned into a six-car crash that left one person dead and another with critical injuries in Toronto’s east end.
The crash happened at around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday near Markham Road and Milner Avenue.
The SIU says police attempted to stop the driver of a stolen Mercedes SUV for speeding. The police watchdog says the driver fled at high speed and the SUV then hit several other vehicles, with one car ending up flipped over and on fire.
Paramedics told Global News they were treating five people. Two men were rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition, paramedics said.
Two others were taken to hospital with minor injuries. A fifth person was treated at the scene but didn’t need to go to hospital, paramedics said.
The SIU said the driver of the stolen SUV was taken to hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The driver of a van involved in the crash was also taken to hospital where he remains in critical condition.
The intersection was closed down in all directions along with the Highway 401 ramp, police said.
Peel Regional Police said the “vehicle in question” was allegedly stolen out of their region.
“Our Detectives attended the scene after the crash for the purposes of investigating the original theft,” Peel Regional Police said. “We were not involved with the collision.”
Witnesses at the scene described what they saw when the crash occurred.
“They were going way too fast. Somebody was going way too fast,” one witness told Global News. “All you can do is pray for those people that are hurt.”
Another witness, Justin Wylie, said he was stopped at a red light at the intersection, heading to work, when the crash happened.
“Considering everybody else, I am glad I’m OK. It’s just sad … the cars just went flying, the guy just ran a red,” Wylie said.
“The car that flipped over, ran a red, going way over the speed limit and creamed this car here that was going to make a left doing down to Markham (road) … and then just hit everybody else,” Wylie said at the scene.
Police have not confirmed the witness accounts of the collision. The investigation is ongoing.