The family of a 20-year-old man struck and killed in a hit-and-run on Highway 404 in Markham last week has issued an emotional public appeal for information about the circumstances around the deadly collision.
Police say 20-year-old Ethann McAulay was walking along Highway 404 at around 10:30 p.m. on April 23 when he was struck and killed by a vehicle in the northbound lanes near Major Mackenzie Drive.
Police say the vehicle that struck him fled the area. McAuley was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators have not yet been able to locate the driver but the vehicle has been identified as a black 2011 or 2012 Hyundai Sonata.
It is unclear why McAulay was walking along the highway but his family says his student residence at Seneca College is located in the area and he may have gone for a walk and gotten lost.
“We just want as much information as we can (get) because we have so many unanswered questions,” his mother said in a video appeal released by police on Thursday.
“It is just time to let us know what happened.”
McAulay is being laid to rest on Thursday and speaking to CP24 from the funeral, his mother urged the driver to come forward.
“You don’t leave another human being on the side of the road… You do the right thing. What if it was someone you loved?” she said tearfully.
“I just think that what this person did was horrendous and I just don’t want any other family to have to go through all of this while they are burying their son.”
McAulay’s family members, who live in Orillia, said he was wrapping up his first year in computer programming at Seneca when he was killed. They said he hoped to one day have a career making video games.
They described him as a “smart” and “quiet” young man who loved his dog and his nieces and nephews and would do “absolutely anything for anybody.”
“When he was little he was always the first one to hold the door open for someone,” his mother said.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt held a news conference on Thursday morning, asking members of the public to help track down the driver.
“This driver is absolutely aware of a collision. Ethann McAulay was left to die on the road. In today’s society, fleeing the scene of a fatality is not only indecent, it’s unconscionable, it’s indefensible, it’s plain wrong, and it is illegal,” he said, adding that witness reports suggest that the driver slowed down or stopped after the collision and then fled the area at a high rate of speed.
“(The family members) want to know what happened. The driver who fled is the last person who saw Ethann alive,” Schmidt said. “What was Ethann doing? Was he calling for help? Was he running for safety? Was he confused, lost, or disoriented? Was he in medical distress? What was he doing? We don’t know. Where was he on the road when he was struck?”
Shmidt said it is possible that the collision was unavoidable.
“At that time of the night on the highway, it was dark. There may be nothing that driver could have done,” he added.
Schmidt urged members of the public to keep an eye out for a damaged vehicle matching that description.
“Maybe you have seen a vehicle in your neighbourhood that matches the description with damage to the front passenger-side headlight assembly and passenger side mirror,” he said.
“If you are a body shop or a repair facility that has had inquiries into having a vehicle repaired, please help us with this investigation to provide answers to the family.”
