Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was not injured when his vehicle was involved in a collision on Highway 401 after leaving an event earlier on Wednesday.
Ford said his vehicle was driving on the highway after leaving a news event at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station when it was “sideswiped” by another vehicle.
The premier’s office said Ford, his staff and the Ontario Provincial Police officers in his vehicle were all safe. The driver of the other vehicle reportedly sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
“We were just driving straight, next thing you know we got hammered — just hammered,” Ford said during a brief media appearance at Queen’s Park.
The crash took place in the westbound lanes of Highway 401 near Brock Road in Pickering, Ont. at around 12:30 p.m., OPP said.
Footage of the collision filmed by Global News appears to show a red car against a highway barrier and, on the other side of the road, the large, dark vehicles the premier travels in.
A fire truck appears to be on the scene, along with a tow truck and other emergency services but traffic is flowing past the crashed vehicles.
“I’m OK,” Ford said. “This head’s like limestone. It’s hard as a rock.”
“We were just driving along in one lane at the speed limit,” Ford added.
He said it appeared the driver of the other vehicle had sustained serious injuries.
“He was out of commission — he hit us then ended up on the other side of the highway,” Ford said. “It was bad — I just pray he’s okay.”
Two people inside the vehicle not carrying Ford suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, OPP said.
OPP said an 18-year-old man from Oshawa was charged with dangerous driving. He is scheduled to appear in an Oshawa court on Feb. 20.