A woman has died after an SUV crashed into the front of a dance studio in the city’s Beach neighbourhood.
It happened at around 10:15 a.m. at a building on the corner of Queen Street East and Spruce Hill Road, just west of Victoria Park Avenue.
According to police, the 65-year-old driver of the white SUV was trying to exit an adjacent laneway when she lost control, drove over a concrete barrier and crashed into the dance studio.
The vehicle struck three people who were inside the studio at the time.
The 68-year-old woman suffered critical injuries after being struck by the vehicle and pinned against the wall. She was rushed to hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries.
A separate woman suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. A man sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.
The driver, a 65-year-old woman, remained at the scene and was treated for minor injuries.
The landlord of the plaza confirmed that the driver of the SUV was on her way to attend a dance class at the studio. The landlord also said that the driver and victim knew each other.
A neighbour in the area said he saw the car fly through the dance studio's front window and rushed over to help the victims.
"It was carnage," said Ken Mcauliffe. "I was just trying to get people out of the store."
"I saw the driver, she was already out of the car walking around in circles, just screaming."
"It's very unfortunate," Rob Norton, a nearby store owner, told CP24. "These people knew each other, worked out together. And to find out now that we lost one of the ladies... It's just a sad day. Very sad."
Norton said a group of about eight people from the area work out together regularly. He also said the driver is known to live in the area.
"The car seemingly missed and jumped the entire wall. It missed even the concrete bottom of the sill and went right through the glass," Norton told CTV Toronto. "It was like a bomb coming through the window."
Police said it is still not clear how exactly the vehicle ended up crashing through the studio as the front of the building is a level lower than street level.
Police have closed Spruce Hill Road at Queen Street while they conduct a full investigation and probe the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Const. Clint Stibbe told CP24 that police will also be downloading information from the SUV's computer to try and reconstruct the series of events that led to the incident.
"It tells us what the car was doing, certain inputs, brakes, gas, seat belts, speed, any number of different things," said Stibbe. "We download that info and reconstruction teams can look at it to determine what exactly was happening prior to the collision."
Police are also appealing to witnesses who may have been in the area at the time of the collision. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-222.
