An early-morning crash has torn one family apart, Toronto police said Sunday as they announced three children had died in a collision allegedly caused by an impaired teen driver.
Police revealed details at a news conference hours after the crash, which took place shortly after midnight at the eastbound off-ramp at Renforth Drive and Highway 401.
Acting Insp. Baheer Sarbanandan said a 19-year-old driving a Dodge Caravan eastbound on the highway was allegedly speeding while exiting at Renforth Drive. The driver allegedly lost control, went over a raised median and collided with a Chrysler Pacifica minivan that was facing northbound while stopped at a red light.
This was “a tragic collision that took away three children’s lives,” Sarbanandan said.
Inside the minivan were a mother, her four children and a male acquaintance of the family.
Sarbanandan said two of the children—a 15-year-old and 13-year-old—were pronounced dead at the scene.
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A six-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital and declared dead some time later.
The 40-year-old man behind the wheel, a 35-year-old woman and a 10-year-old child are currently in hospital and are in stable condition. Their names were not immediately released.
Police said 19-year-old Ethan Lehouillier of Georgetown, Ont., was arrested at the scene and is facing 12 charges, including three counts of impaired driving causing death and three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm.
“We educate the public of the dangers of drinking and driving and this is a result: a family is torn apart,” said Sarbanandan.
He added one person’s decision to drive impaired wound up being “a fatal decision.”
Police are appealing to witnesses who saw the Dodge Caravan travelling eastbound on the 401 to come forward with information. They are also looking for dashcam footage, Sarbanandan said.
The crash comes nearly a decade after a comparable incident in September 2015 in which another impaired driver caused the deaths of three children and their grandfather.
On Sept. 27, 2015, Daniel Neville-Lake, 9, his brother Harrison, 5, and sister Milly, 2, and Gary Neville, 65, died after the crash in Vaughan, Ont. The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also seriously injured.
Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2016 to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two of impaired driving causing bodily harm. He is also under a 12-year driving ban.
Muzzo was granted full parole in February 2021 and subjected to a number of conditions including that he stay out of Brampton, Ont., and the Regional Municipality of York.
Jennifer Neville-Lake, the children’s mother, made a post of “grief and solidarity” with the victims of Sunday’s crash in an afternoon Instagram post.
I’m heartbroken after hearing the news,“ she wrote in the caption to a photo depicting several pale yellow and blue packets of forget-me-not, sunflower and moonflower seeds. ”I am so so sorry.”
