Peel police have charged two drivers after two tow trucks were captured on video crashing into a collision scene in Mississauga in December.
The incident happened on the evening of Dec. 18 at the intersection of Mavis Road and The Queensway. Police said officers and other emergency services were already on the scene due to a collision.
“We’ve all seen tow trucks driving like fools, but this was next level,” Peel police media relations officer Const. Tyler Bell said in a video statement accompanying the collision footage.
In the video, cruisers and fire trucks are at the intersection when two tow trucks, which police believe were racing to the scene, come out of nowhere, leave the road side-by-side and mount the curb onto the grassy area, prompting people on the sidewalk, including an officer, to move out of the way to avoid getting hit.
“Jesus,” an officer is heard saying in the video as the trucks ram the scene before radioing in what occurred.
“I’m gonna need a couple of extra units here. I got two tows that just crashed through the scene and are now failing to remain.”
Police said one tow truck hit a vehicle involved in the initial collision.
Both drivers sped away, “demonstrating a complete disregard for public safety,” police said.
“And instead of stopping to see if they hurt anybody, they took off again, driving like maniacs,” Bell said.
No one was injured in the crash.
Police said officers later canvassed the area for security cameras and located footage that allegedly showed both tow trucks “being driven recklessly at high rates of speed in residential areas, running stop signs and traffic lights.”
In a news release on Tuesday, police identified the 30-year-old drivers as Abdulaziz Omar and Bilal Nofal from Mississauga.
They have been charged with dangerous operation, failure to stop after an accident, flight from peace officer, disobeying a stop sign, performing a stunt while driving a motor vehicle, failure to comply with prescribed requirements and standards for tow truck drivers and engaging in a prohibited practice as a tow truck driver.
