Three people are dead after a single-vehicle collision early Sunday morning in southeast Edmonton.
According to police, a 2023 Tesla carrying six adults was travelling east on a rural stretch of Ellerslie Road at very high speeds around 1 a.m. The vehicle lost control near 17 Street, rolling several times off the road, police said.
Two men and one woman were pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics treated two other men and took them to hospital in critical condition. Another woman was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition.
Police believe speed to be a factor.
Video captured by our Global 1 news helicopter of the scene showed debris strewn in a field along the road, with no recognizable vehicle in sight. A California licence plate was spotted among the debris collected after the collision.
Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee said Monday he’s been in communication with the province about changing regulations so vehicles travelling at excessive speeds (of 50 kilometres an hour or more over the speed limit) can be seized.
“It is a way to send a message that these types of speeds are extremely dangerous. There’s people getting hurt and the reality is this behaviour can’t be accepted,” McFee said.
Not having a vehicle for a few weeks is a big deterrent for speeding, he said – it sends a strong message.
For Sunday morning’s triple fatal, McFee said the number of families impacted by such a crash need to be considered when looking at implementing new road regulations.
“With not only three deceased but two that are still in critical condition – who knows what those extensive injuries are going to be … that’s a lot of different families that things like this are going to have a long-lasting effect (on). If that’s something we can do in a preventative nature, we’re absolutely adamant that’s the way we need to go,” he said.
In some of these cases, vehicles are clocking in at over twice the speed limit, McFee said.
“The straightaway’s not a race track. It’s just conducive to make decisions at higher rates of speed.”
It’s not just families that are impacted by street racing, but the responding officers as well, McFee added. The EPS has well-being programs in place and check up on officers who attend multiple crash calls to ensure their mental health is OK.
“You’ve got to remember that when these officers go (to tragic scenes), they have family members too.”
Police continue to investigate are asking anyone with dashcam footage of the incident to contact police at 780-423-4567.
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