A 59-year-old man has been charged in connection with an apparent road rage incident on Highway 401 in North York that left a toddler in critical condition.
Ontario Provincial Police responded to reports of a three-vehicle crash in the eastbound collector lanes near Leslie Street around 1 a.m. on July 16.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said there were two separate collisions that occurred. The first was between a mini-cooper and a taxi, which was carrying a family of five, including three children.
“Investigators believe that the driver of that lead mini cooper vehicle was involved in some sort of street justice road rage incident with that cab driving on Highway 401 eastbound,” Schmidt said.
The two vehicles collided briefly, but the damage was minor. At that moment, a third vehicle crashed into them.
All five occupants of the taxi were taken to the hospital. Three people were taken to the hospital with serious to minor injuries, but one woman and a 17-month-old child were taken to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries.
The 17-month-old is still in critical condition.
Schmidt said that the collision was “unprovoked and unnecessary.”
“We’ve seen this in the past,” Schmidt said. “It is very frustrating to think that because of a little inconvenience, maybe a high beam or a lane change -- that someone gets in someone’s way -- they feel it is necessary for them to retaliate back.”
“In the end, they don’t realize the consequences that could happen as a result.”
Investigators still don’t know what happened leading up to the road rage incident, but Schmidt said there must have been some interaction between the two vehicles.
Sanath DeSilva from Toronto is being charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in connection with the collision. He appeared in court on Wednesday.
