‘Someone’s going to get hurt’: Police chase ends in tragedy
Radio call captures officer’s warning before Hwy. 401 crash that killed infant, grandparents
“Someone’s going to get hurt.”
As at least six Durham police cars sped the wrong way down Hwy. 401 in pursuit of a U-Haul van driven by a man accused of robbing an LCBO, an unidentified OPP officer made the comment over the radio.
He wanted to make sure the Durham police supervising officer knew how risky the situation was becoming.
“10-4,” the OPP dispatcher replied shortly after 8 p.m. on Monday night. “We’re calling them now.”
Less than three minutes later, the suspect’s cube van hit an oncoming car on Hwy. 401, just east of Highway 412, in Whitby. Four people were killed: a baby, the infant’s 60year-old and 55-year-old grandparents, and the man whom police were pursuing. At least six vehicles, including a white semi-trailer truck, were involved in the fiery crash.
In the aftermath of the 20-minute police pursuit that appears to have begun when a man fled after robbing a liquor store with an off-duty police officer present, questions are being asked about how the tragedy unfolded, including whether the police response was appropriate.
The province’s police watchdog is now investigating what happened.
The Star’s account of the fatal high-speed chase comes from witness accounts, cellphone videos and early Special Investigations Unit information, along with recordings of Monday night radio calls from Whitby OPP highway patrol and Durham emergency services that were posted online by civilian radio enthusiasts.
“Multiple Durham units are going the wrong direction,” westbound in the eastbound lanes, said a male voice over the radio, before asking OPP dispatch to make sure a Durham police supervisor was aware
The calls capture the chaotic moments leading up to the crash from the perspective of those emergency services as Durham officers chased after the suspect.
Shortly before 8 p.m., a Whitby OPP dispatcher advised all officers about a reported robbery that had just occurred at a Bowmanville LCBO near Green Road and Highway 2. Durham police had said a man tried to rob the liquor store and “pulled a knife on an off-duty officer.”
She said it was unknown which service the officer was with.
After sharing the suspect’s licence plate and description, and that he was driving a U-Haul, the dispatcher said the off-duty police officer was following the suspect in a red Honda Odyssey.
Among her updates in the minutes following, she said Durham police might have had the suspect “blocked in” at one point.
“They have 12 units behind the vehicle, so we are probably not needed,” she said
The suspect vehicle had not been stopped and had taken off “at a high rate of speed” toward Hwy. 401. Several Durham police units would be on the highway, she advised.
The U-Haul entered the highway — going in the opposite direction of traffic.
The police pursuit continued. “Multiple Durham units are going the wrong direction,” westbound in the eastbound lanes passing Thickson Road, said a male voice over the radio, before asking dispatch to make sure a Durham police supervisor was aware.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) later told reporters the driver joined the highway at Stevenson Road in Oshawa. He was headed against eastbound traffic in the direction of Whitby. SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon did not say how many police vehicles were involved in the highway chase.
According to an officer at the OPP’s Brock Street detachment, there were “probably six Durham cruisers that are following the vehicle (the) wrong way.”
Less than 15 minutes after the first mention of the LCBO robbery, the dispatcher reported Durham police were trying to shut down the highway at Pickering. She quickly added there may have been a crash.
A transport truck was hit “head on” and officers are needed to assist, she said.
An officer chimed in, sirens in the background: “We need fire right away. This vehicle is on fire here.”
A Durham paramedic service dispatcher was also tracking the unexpected chase, after a paramedic on the road called in just after 8 p.m.
“Police are just passing up from the 401 telling me to follow them,” the paramedic said.
“There’s two cops flying by with their lights on so do you want me to go on a call and just follow them?”
“Maybe just follow them for now and we’ll give you any updates when we get them,” the dispatcher responded, noting a police call was coming in.
The update came less than a minute later from the dispatcher.
“It was a U-Haul truck versus two other vehicles.”
There are “multiple fatalities and an infant involved,” the dispatcher said before routing other paramedics to the scene.
“It sounds like there’s 17 police cruisers on scene.”
Witness accounts also captured the terrifying moments before the crash.
Elizabeth Collins heard the sirens on the 401 from her 18th-floor balcony.
Then she saw a police car “flying” on the highway, followed by a “boom.”
The driver of the police cruiser slammed on their brakes, Collins said. She heard an impact that “sounded like a train derailing or a bomb going off. It was terrifying.”
Brodie Mills, who was driving westbound on the highway, said he watched the U-Haul van speed past him in the same direction but in the eastbound lanes, followed by three police cruisers. He said a few more cop cars then trailed behind in the same direction but on the westbound side.
“A vehicle caught fire around one kilometre away,” he said in a message exchange with the Star, adding the crash snarled traffic for hours.
“We understand there are many questions, however there is a legislated process regarding investigations conducted by the SIU that our service must adhere to,” said Durham police in a press release Tuesday afternoon.
The service is co-operating with the SIU and cannot make a public statement on the incident, the release said, adding “at this time our thoughts are with those impacted by this tragedy.”
In addition to the four fatalities, the driver of a transport truck, seen in cellphone videos with the front severely damaged, sustained minor injuries.
A spokesperson for Nour Transport, a Quebec-based trucking company, said the driver was doing OK and was released from the hospital Tuesday morning.
The SIU investigation will examine whether the police pursuit was the right course of action.
The new Community Safety and Policing Act, which came into effect April 1, spells out policies and procedures for vehicle pursuits, updating a previous version of the law that dates back to 2000.
Police pursuits, the regulation says, are permitted when an officer has reason to believe a crime has been committed but specifies officers should not begin a pursuit if alternatives can be “readily” implemented.
Importantly, the regulation also spells out that officers must first determine if “the risk to public safety that may result from the pursuit is outweighed by the risk to public safety” if the suspect fleeing is not apprehended.
The heartbreaking deaths of the baby and grandparents in the crash drew condolences, including from the premier and the mayor of Whitby.
“It’s heart-wrenching to see everyone from a grandfather to a little baby, the loss of lives, because someone decides to rob a liquor store and go on the other side of the highway. It’s a tragedy,” Premier Doug Ford told reporters.
“We’re going to do everything we can to equip our police — that there won’t have to be high-speed chases. (It’s) one of the reasons we’re getting helicopters for police agencies around Ontario,” he said referring to the $46 million announced in last month’s budget for four Ontario Provincial Police choppers.