One person has died and a further seven were rushed to hospital after a multi-car crash in downtown Toronto early Saturday morning.
In a tweet at around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, Toronto police said they responded to reports of a crash, including a pedestrian who was hit, in the area of Wellington Street West and University Avenue.
Local police, fire and paramedics all rushed to the scene to assess the injuries to “multiple people,” police said. Roads around the incident were shut as emergency services worked.
Police said that a 26-year-old man driving a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee went through a red light at the intersection, hitting two other cars.
The collision resulted in two pedestrians also being hit, police said. One of the pedestrians, another 26-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other — a man aged 32 — was taken to hospital with severe injuries.
The people inside the other two cars were also taken to hospital with minor injuries, police said.
“We just saw utter devastation … I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Jason Mercier, a Toronto teacher returning from a Canada Day celebration in the east end who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, told Global News.
“It makes you think, it makes you grateful to be alive.”
Toronto paramedics rushed seven patients to hospital with injuries that ranged from minor to severe, while one person was pronounced dead on the scene, according to police.
Toronto police said one driver involved in the multi-vehicle crash was arrested under suspicion of impaired driving.
The driver was named as Nitan Thakur, who is from Toronto. He faces six charges, including impaired operation causing death, dangerous driving causing death and impaired operation causing bodily harm.
Police have asked local residents and drivers with dashcam footage to contact investigators.
Thakur will appear in court Saturday.
— with files from Global News’ Ahmar Khan
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