Four people are dead and another is in hospital after a Tesla driving through downtown Toronto at a high rate of speed crashed into a guardrail and struck a concrete pillar on Lake Shore Boulevard.
It happened in the eastbound lanes of the busy road, east of Cherry Street, shortly before 12:15 a.m.
“The vehicle lost control, struck a guardrail and then struck a concrete pillar. Upon impact, the vehicle then caught fire,” Duty Inspector Phillip Sinclair told reporters Thursday morning.
He confirmed that four people believed to be in their 20s were pronounced dead at the scene.
A fifth person – a woman in her 20s – was injured but is expected to survive. She was transported to hospital with serious injuries, Toronto Paramedic Services said.
A bystander arrived first and tried to help the occupants.
“I believe the fire had started when the bystander provided assistance. So again, thanks very much to that bystander,” Sinclair said. “We have been speaking to them, and obviously they also (are) deeply affected by this incident, a very horrific scene for that bystander to step in.”
Firefighters then arrived on scene to discover a “significant fire,” Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop said.
“Our crews worked to quickly extinguish the fire and then, once the fire was extinguished, our crews noted a number of persons inside the vehicle,” Jessop said. “Under the direction of the coroner’s office and the Toronto Police Service, Toronto firefighters carefully extricated the bodies, and they are now in the care of the Office of the Chief Coroner.
Images from the scene showed the charred and crumpled vehicle being hauled away from the site of the crash.
There was a heavy police presence at the scene through the early morning hours, with the Collision Reconstruction Unit working to piece together exactly what happened.
It is not yet clear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
“We are asking anyone who may have been in the area by Lake Shore Boulevard and Cherry Street, who may have witnessed the incident or has dashcam footage, to contact the police,” Sinclair said.
Lake Shore Boulevard was closed both ways between the Don Valley Parkway and Cherry Street through the night as police investigated the fatal crash. The road reopened around 8:30 a.m.
