WRONG-WAY CRASH KILLS LOCAL WOMAN, 47

Oakville driver faces impaired charges

An Oakville woman has been charged with impaired driving causing the death of a Windsor woman, after police say she drove the wrong way on Highway 407 Saturday and struck a car head-on.

OPP spokesman Sgt. Dave Woodford said shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, a Mazda 3 travelling in the wrong direction in the westbound lanes of Highway 407 near Trafalgar Road in Oakville struck a Toyota Corolla.

Windsor resident Carol

“TRAVELLING AT 100 KILOMETRES AN HOUR, THERE WASN’T TOO MUCH LEFT ( OF THE CARS.)” SGT. DAVE WOODFORD

Grimmond, 47, a passenger in the Corolla, was rushed to Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga where she succumbed to her injuries before she could be airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, he said.

The driver of the Toyota, Grimmond’s twin brother, was treated at hospital for minor injuries.

“Head-on is just like running into a brick wall,” Woodford said. “Travelling at 100 kilometres an hour, there wasn’t too much left (of the cars.)”

The Grimmonds were leaving their grandfather’s 99th birthday party in Vaughn and on their way to their mother’s house in Oakville when they were hit by the oncoming car, according to Toronto news reports that said Grimmond was an Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services employee. A family member told The Toronto Star Grimmond had worked at the Don Jail in Toronto before being transferred to Windsor. She was not married and had no children, the relative said.

Oakville resident Mary Sampson, the 55- year- old driver of the Mazda, has been charged with impaired driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, Woodford said.

Woodford said Sampson had a bloodalcohol level over the legal limit. She was not injured in the crash, he said.

“At the time there was signs of impairment so she was arrested at the scene and then taken to one of our detachments where she provided breath samples,” he said.

Woodford said Sampson appeared at a bail hearing Sunday in Mississauga.

Police are trying to piece together the sequence of events and at this point police aren’t sure if Sampson entered an exit ramp or if she made a U-turn in the middle of the highway, Woodford said.

Police are asking witnesses or anyone with information to call OPP at (905) 841-5777.

Woodford said police also encourage those who may have witnessed the car driving before the collision to call investigators.