Police have arrested a 28-year-old woman in connection with a fatal hit-and-run in North York last week.
Debbie Graves, 63, was walking on the north side of York Mills Road, west of Don Mills Road, at around 11 p.m. on Oct. 4 when a vehicle mounted the curb and struck her.
The driver of the vehicle then fled the area following the incident.
On Wednesday, police announced that they had seized the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run from an auto repair shop but no arrests were immediately announced.
At the time, police identified the 28-year-old woman as the owner of the vehicle but said that they were still unable to determine who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash and therefore only considered her to be a person of interest.
“Without the public’s assistance I believe this case would have been extremely challenging,” Const. Clint Stibbe told CP24 on Saturday. “The public did a tremendous job in helping us determine what the chain of events was and who was operating the vehicle at the time of the incident.”
The woman, identified as Erin Wright, was arrested on Saturday morning.
Police say that she will be charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death and obstruction of police. Later Saturday, police said she will also face a charge of impaired driving causing death.
Graves lived in Riverview, New Brunswick and was only in Toronto on a temporary work assignment.
Graves’s brother-in-law, who lives in Cobourg, told CP24 on Saturday that it is a “relief” to see an arrest made in the case, albeit one that does little to help a family that is still “devastated.”
“It a tremendous loss for us,” Wes Hanson said. “Debbie was a wonderful person, an outstanding mother and she was a vital member of our family.”
