Broadcaster charged with impaired driving in Whitchurch-Stouffville crash that injured 4 children

York Regional Police say a 47-year-old broadcaster has been charged with impaired driving after a crash north of Toronto that sent a mother and four children to hospital Thursday morning.

Police said two vehicles collided on Stouffville Road between McCowan and Kennedy roads in the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont., at around 8:20 a.m.

In one of the vehicles, officers found a woman and four children between the ages of seven and 13, and all five were taken to hospital.

Global News spoke with the mother, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said the incident happened while she was driving her three children and a friend’s child to school.

“It was really scary. It was like a movie scene where you get the view of the driver being head-on and it was that quick, that fast and it was horrible because I just didn’t know, didn’t expect that we would walk out of there,” she said, adding her 12-year-old daughter suffered a broken wrist, her 13-year-old son has a broken hand and the other 12-year-old girl has a broken collarbone.

She said her other seven-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries.

Const. Andy Pattenden said the driver of the oncoming vehicle, Kai Ming “Calvin” Lo was charged with impaired driving and four counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm.

Global News learned Lo is a well-known Chinese broadcaster who works for Fairchild radio. A colleague confirmed Lo remains in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Lo has two prior convictions for impaired driving, Global News also learned, one from 2004 and one from 2008. The woman who survived the crash said she can’t believe the message is not getting through to Lo.

Lo is scheduled to appear in a Newmarket court April 23.

—With files from The Canadian Press and Jessica Patton