A 38-year-old is dead after a pickup truck operated by an alleged impaired driver travelled in the wrong direction and collided with another vehicle on Highway 401 in Pickering early Sunday morning.
The fatal crash occurred in the eastbound collector lanes near Westney Road and resulted in a lengthy closure of the highway.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said they initially got a call around 2:40 a.m. for a westbound pickup truck travelling east on the highway near Salem Road.
Shortly after, the pickup collided with a passenger vehicle, and OPP said the 38-year-old driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, the driver of the pickup truck, a 41-year-old, was arrested and charged with dangerous operation causing death and impaired operation causing death.
SIU investigating 2nd crash
Hours later, a second collision happened in the same general area involving a passenger vehicle and a police cruiser.
OPP said two officers were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
In a separate post, Durham regional police noted both officers are “in good spirits and will make a full recovery.”
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which has invoked its mandate and will look into the circumstances of the second crash, provided more details in a separate news release on Sunday afternoon.
According to the SIU, Durham police were providing traffic support to the OPP as they investigated the fatal first collision.
A cruiser was parked in the inside left lane while an Ontario Ministry of Transportation support truck was next to it in the centre lane, the SIU said, adding that behind the two vehicles were road barricades set up to divert traffic off the highway and onto Brock Road.
Then, around 4:30 a.m., the SIU said an eastbound vehicle drove through the barricades and hit the rear of the police cruiser.
In addition to the two officers, the driver of the vehicle, a 52-year-old man, was also taken to the hospital with serious injuries, the SIU said.
The agency has assigned two investigators and two forensic investigators to the case.
Hours-long closure
The two crashes resulted in the closure of all eastbound lanes of the Highway 401 at Whites Road throughout the morning.
Around 12:40 p.m., OPP said the eastbound lanes of the highway at Whites Road had reopened. They later said that the eastbound collector lanes at Brock Road remained closed for the investigation.
