Ontario: An Indian couple visiting Canada who were visiting their 3-month-old grandchild were killed in a highway vehicle collision in Ontario on Friday. Ontario police were pursuing a liquor shop robbery suspect who was travelling the incorrect way when he collided with a car carrying an Indian family.
Four people including the robbery suspect were killed in the accident. Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) said that two of the victims, a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman were visiting from India. The parents of the infant were in the same vehicle, the 33-year-old father and 27-year-old mother. The parents were residents of Ajax and were taken to the hospital for treatment. The SIU said that the mother was treated for serious injuries.
According to officials, there was a heist at a Bowmanville liquor shop that led to a fatal vehicle pursuit. The suspect drove a cargo van, and approximately 20 minutes later, he ended it when he drove Durham police on a high-speed pursuit against traffic on Highway 401 in Whitby, which is located roughly 50 kilometres east of Toronto, according to PTI. The cargo van also included a 38-year-old male passenger who was transported to the hospital with critical injuries.
According to the SIU, the victims’ autopsies were carried out in Toronto on Wednesday. According to the SIU, this matter is still being investigated by seven investigators, one forensic investigator, and one crash reconstructionist. The inquiry is being handled by the SIU, an organization that is contacted if there are reports of sexual assault, a fatality, or a major injury involving police.
Milica Maljkovic Birkett, a witness to the deadly police chase who narrowly escaped, recounted her experience. She said she didn’t have time to think. She said that she was on her regular commute on the 401 when suddenly, the suspect van was coming toward her car on the wrong side of the road. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, like what just happened? What’s going on?'” Maljkovic Birkett told CBC Toronto on Thursday.
Maljkovic Birkett expressed that it has taken time to process the experience. “It’s so scary. For whatever reason, somehow my life was spared. But (four) others were taken and that was just really heavy,” she said.
