A 36-year-old woman suffered significant injuries after she was struck by a dump truck whose driver initially fled the scene of the crash in Swansea.
The woman was crossing the intersection at the South Kingsway and Bloor Street West intersection shortly before 8 a.m. when she was struck by a truck attempting to turn right onto the Kingsway. Toronto police say she was dragged a short distance before the truck came to a stop.
Toronto Paramedics described her injuries as “very serious” and transported her to St. Michael’s Hospital for treatment.
After the crash, police say the truck paused only briefly after witnesses shouted at the driver, but it eventually took off.
Sgt. Alex Crews said a TTC employee and passerby who witnessed the crash followed the driver and notified police of his whereabouts.
When officers caught up to the truck in the South Kingsway and Park Lawn Road area, police say the driver got out of the vehicle and fled on foot.
“He was caught a short distance away after a brief foot pursuit,” Crews told CP24.
“That individual has been brought back to traffic services for processing.”
Police say the suspect is a 24-year-old man. There was no immediate word on possible charges.
Crews said a TTC employee provided first-aid to the victim, who was suffering from “fairly serious head and leg injuries” before paramedics arrived. He said though her injuries are “significant,” they’re considered non-life-threatening.
“Some great folks on scene rendered some first-aid,” he said.
“I know that people tending to first-aid applied a tourniquet to her leg to stop the bleeding. There may be some breaks to the leg.”
One witness said she watched people flock to the scene to try and help the victim while they awaited first responders.
"It was nice to see all the people who came and helped out. Everyone moved really quickly, that's what I took away from it. All the paramedics and the police and everyone else moved quickly, so that was good to see," the woman, who identified herself only as Maddie, told CP24.
"When I first saw it, I broke down a little. I've never really seen anything like that up close so it upset me a lot and I think it upset everyone."
Police closed some roads in the vicinity of the crash while they conducted an investigation. The area has since reopened.
Crews said it’s too early to tell what colour the traffic lights were when the collision occurred but that investigators are currently piecing together the series of events that led to the incident.
“We are still appealing to witnesses. Anybody who was in the area that hasn’t spoken to police, we’re asking them to contact our investigators at Traffic Services,” he said. “As well, dash cam video is becoming very popular, so anyone in that area around that time that has dashboard camera in their car, if they could have a look at it. If they’ve captured something on that, we’d love to have a look at it ourselves.”
