The family of a 20-year-old Seneca College student who was struck and killed by a vehicle while he was walking on Highway 404 in Richmond Hill a week and a half ago is issuing a plea to the driver to come forward.
“We can’t have closure without knowing who — or whatever they can tell us,” the victim’s stepfather, Richard Harmer, said in a video interview released by the Ontario Provincial Police on Thursday.
“If they don’t come in we’ll never know some answers.”
Police said Ethann McAulay was walking in the northbound lane on Highway 404 just north of Major Mackenzie Drive on April 23 around 10:30 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the car sustained damage to the front passenger head light assembly as well as the side mirror.
Police said witnesses reported the vehicle came to a stop a short distance away and then left at a high rate of speed.
“This driver is absolutely aware of a collision,” Schmidt said.
“Ethann McAulay was left to die on the road. In today’s society, fleeing the scene of a fatality is not only indecent, it’s unconscionable, it’s indefensible, it’s plain wrong and it’s illegal.”
The vehicle, described as black 2011/12 Hyundai Sonata, was last seen exiting at Elgin Mills Road and heading west into Richmond Hill.
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Police said they don’t know why or how McAulay ended up on the highway.
“The driver who fled is the last person who saw Ethann alive. What was Ethann doing? Was he calling for help? Was he running for safety? Was he confused, lost or disorientated? Was he in medical distress?” Schmidt said.
“There’s no pedestrian access typically and so we are certainly trying to understand what brought him there and what the circumstances were that led him to that location.”
Police said it’s also possible the driver knew they had hit something and panicked.
“This may not have been something that they could have avoided. We have had situations like that in the past where people are struck, small vehicles or vulnerable road users are struck, and by the time someone realizes it, there’s nothing they can do,” Schmidt said.
“Had this person stopped at the time, provided information and a statement, that would certainly be a completely different story for us right now.”
McAulay’s family said he was a computer programmer and was studying computer science at Seneca College. They said Ethann had one more exam left in the school year and was planning to come home on Tuesday. Harmer said he had already made plans with friends for the weekend.
“He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke. Ethann was a gamer type of kid,” his sister Ashtyn McCauley told Global News. “He’s always been passionate about computers. He built his first computer when he was probably in Grade 9, by himself.”
The family said they don’t know why McAulay was on the highway either. They said might have been confused or stressed about exams and went out to clear his head. They said he wasn’t very familiar with the area having been from Orillia and didn’t drive.
“He lived on Seneca residence, which is actually just on the 404,” Ashtyn said.
“So he was walking without his cellphone, so how else would you — you know, you live on the 404. You’re not from a city, you’re from Orillia, and you’ve never driven yourself there. You don’t know any road name. You would have no idea where you are once you’re walking.”
“I just think he got turned around and he wasn’t sure where to go. And the safest place to be would be back on the highway to try and get home.” she said.
Ethann’s funeral was held Thursday morning.
The victim’s mother said in the video released by police that the right thing to do is for the driver to turn themselves in.
“What if it was their kid, their sister or someone along those lines?” Janette Harmer said.
“How would they feel the person slowed down, looked at them and took off after hitting him?”
“He was a human being that was just left by the side of the road by somebody who didn’t think twice,” Ashtyn said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Aurora OPP detachment at 905-841-5777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
—With files from Shallima Maharaj