Police have charged a 19-year-old man after a Range Rover smashed into a pole on Mount Pleasant Road with enough force to instantly kill a passenger and tear the SUV in half.
Oliver Karafa is facing a variety of charges in relation to the collision, including criminal negligence, impaired driving and dangerous driving.
"He's a very young man, he is facing some fairly serious charges," said Karafa's lawyer, Lawrence Ben-Eliezer outside the courthouse. "It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out whether or not he is feeling a lot of stress."
A 24-year-old passenger travelling in the vehicle was killed instantly at the scene of the crash, police said.
Natalia Richtie, who lives across the street from where the crash took place on Mount Pleasant Road near Eglinton Avenue, placed flowers at the crash site on Tuesday.
She said the crash sounded like a plane crash.
Richtie said she came out of her house at about 2:30 a.m. to see the driver standing by the smashed up wreckage of the car.
At the collision site, pieces of debris were sent flying in all directions and the Range Rover was ripped in half. Debris from the vehicle was sprayed more than 100 metres in some directions.
One end of the vehicle was left wrapped around the pole, while the other was flung across the road to the other side of the street.
"It's a very large scene, speed obviously being a factor in this collision," Const. Clinton Stibbe told CTV Toronto.
Estimates suggest the Ranger Rover would need to be travelling between 150 and 180 km/h to cause the amount of carnage left at the scene – three times faster than the posted speed limit.
Oliver Karafa, 19, of Toronto, has been charged with:
- Criminal Negligence Cause Death
- Impaired Driving Cause Death
- Dangerous Driving Causing Death
- Over 80 mgs Causing Death
Karafa will appear in court again for a bail hearing Wednesday.
