Woman critically injured in east-end collision

Police said a female driver suffered life-threatening injuries when her vehicle collided with another car in Windsor’s east end on Thursday night and the other driver fled the scene.

The crash happened at the intersection of George Avenue and Reginald Street shortly after 8 p.m. Witnesses said the woman was driving a white Chrysler sedan. The other car was a silver Cadillac. The impact sent the Chrysler vehicle onto a nearby residential property, almost making contact with the side of a house at 1594 George Ave.

“I just heard a huge collision,” said Dave Piche, who was in another nearby home at the time of the incident.

“I didn’t know what it was at first. It kind of shook the house. It was so loud.”

Piche said he and other residents immediately ventured out to see if they could help and they saw the damaged Chrysler.

The driver of the car was in obvious medical distress.

“I could see what looked like smoke,” Piche said. “I didn’t know what it was ... we helped her get out of the car right away because we didn’t know.

“It turned out to be air-bag dust, but we thought the car was on fire because the whole front end was caved in.”

Piche said the woman appeared to be a senior.

After helping the woman to safety, Piche noticed the other vehicle that was involved, the silver Cadillac, which also had extensive damage.

“I took off running to that car to make sure everybody was OK,” he said.

But as Piche approached the Cadillac, a young male exited via the driver-side door and fled on foot, he said.

Two other occupants remained in the car.

“They were all kids. Like, young,” Piche said.

By then, emergency responders were arriving on scene. Piche said the woman who was in the Chrysler was put on a stretcher and left the scene in an ambulance. “She was in bad shape,” Piche said. “She was crying. You could tell she was in pain.” George Avenue has right-of-way at the intersection.

There are stop signs for traffic on Reginald Street.

Police remained in the area until the early morning hours on Friday. Collision reconstruction specialists and forensic officers examined the scene.

As a result of an investigation, police identified a suspect. At around 2:30 a.m., they located and arrested him in the 1100 block of St. Louis Avenue.

Police described the accused as a 20-year-old Windsor man. He faces charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and failure to remain at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm. He has since been released on a promise to appear in court. Piche said he didn’t get a good look at the man who fled. Piche said he has long held the opinion that there should be more four-way stops on George Avenue. “(I’m) not saying it would have prevented anything,” Piche said. “But it could’ve helped.”

The incident at George Avenue and Reginald Street wasn’t the only major collision in Windsor’s east end on Thursday night. Just 15 minutes before that, emergency responders were called to the 2500 block of Pillette Road to deal with a two-vehicle crash that resulted in one of the vehicles hitting a residence.

The collision on Pillette Road involved an SUV-style vehicle and a pickup truck.

Both vehicles ended up on residential property, but the truck became embedded in the attached garage of a house.

The front end of the truck crashed through the garage door. Its rear end, in the driveway, showed impact damage.