A 19-year-old driver is facing charges in connection with a multi-vehicle crash in Richmond Hill that left one person dead and sent five others to hospital.
It happened on Yonge Street, near Townwood Drive, at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Four vehicles were involved in the collision and police said that one vehicle flipped and caught fire. Images from the scene showed one vehicle completely crumpled in a ditch, with debris from other vehicles scattered across the roadway.
"We just heard a big explosion," Manisha Orya, who lives near the scene, told CP24 Monday. "My husband and my kids and everybody just ran out and we saw a Mercedes just in pieces over there and we saw another car on the other side."
She said neighbours went to the scene to try and help the injured after the crash and said people in the area are still "in shock."
The driver of a white Mazda, identified by police as a 44-year-old man from Richmond Hill, was pronounced dead at the scene, while two others passengers of the vehicle, a 40-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy, were transported to trauma centres in Toronto and three others were taken to a local hospital.
Police said Monday morning that the driver of the Mercedes, identified as 19-year-old Richmond Hill resident Fereidoon Hayatibahari, has been charged with impaired driving causing death, two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, criminal negligence causing death, and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Yonge Street was closed between Jefferson Side Road and Harris Avenue for the cleanup, but the road has since reopened.
In a written statement released Monday, York Regional Police Chief Eric Joliffe called the collision a "tragic loss" for both the victim's family and the community.
"I would like to express our gratitude to members of our community who rushed to the scene to provide aid to the injured following the collision," Joliffe said.
Anyone with additional information about the crash is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
