Two people who had been released on bail, one for a violent robbery, crashed a stolen BMW into a TTC bus, resulting in two being sent to hospital聽with life-threatening injuries early Monday, police said.
At the scene聽near聽Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue聽Monday morning the bus remained at the site of the crash with shattered windows and jagged metal pieces jutting out from the front of its metal frame from the impact. The BMW was severely damaged with the front of its chassis scrunched like a piece of paper, its doors ripped off and strewn aside.聽
Security footage showed the dramatic moment of impact that caused the TTC bus to careen 180 degrees after it was hit while crossing the intersection, slamming its rear end into a guardrail. Heavy smoke could be seen rising from the rear of the car, security camera footage released by Qunubu Cannabis showed.聽
Just before the bus was hit the video showed a black SUV running through a red light across the intersection in less than a second.
Video from a nearby business shows the moment a BMW crashed into a TTC bus early Monday morning.聽
Video courtesy of Qunubu cannabisThe white BMW vehicle was obscured by the bus and could not be seen in the video.
Passing drivers stopped and checked on the injured and police arrived on the scene at 1:54 a.m. within two minutes, the footage showed.
The white BMW, which was carrying three passengers and one driver, caught fire. Police pulled one person from the burning vehicle. Two of the BMW passengers sustained life-threatening injuries. The other two people in the BMW suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.聽
The TTC vehicle had four passengers and one driver in it at the time.聽One woman was ejected from the bus, and sustained minor injuries.聽
“This caused quite a massive collision,” 海角社区官网police Duty Insp. Brian Maslowski told reporters at the scene Monday morning.
Police do not know why the vehicles were travelling at such a high speed.
A crash involving a TTC bus and a stolen white BMW happened in North York overnight.
Two of the people in the stolen BMW were out on bail, one of them for a violent robbery the 海角社区官网Police Association (TPA) said in a post on X.聽
海角社区官网police confirmed the details, but declined to specify the names of the two individuals or the nature of their charges.聽
The officer鈥檚 union, in the social media post,聽blamed the federal government鈥檚 鈥渨eak bail system鈥 for their release.
“Our members are increasingly frustrated and angered as they continue risking their lives to apprehend repeat violent offenders. How many more incidents must occur before the federal government recognizes and responds to the urgent reality on our streets?”聽TPA President Clayton Campbell said in a press release issued Friday.
Monday’s collision adds to a string of incidents where cars have collided with TTC busses over the past two months. On Oct. 9, a stolen car rammed into two TTC buses in Forest Hill, with the stolen Honda ramming into a bus and catching fire, leading to life-threatening injuries for the driver of the car. In late October, a pickup truck rammed into a TTC bus in similar fashion, leading to the arrest of the truck driver. That crash was less severe, however, with non-life-threatening injuries among those involved.
Auto thefts in Peel, 海角社区官网and York are on a downward trend, police have reported, but a surge in the use of violence to steal vehicles is causing concern for law enforcement officials.
While 海角社区官网saw more than 12,000 vehicle thefts in 2023, as of Nov. 18, there have been 8,427 thefts reported to police, a 22.1 per cent decrease year-to-date, compared to last year.
When Varun Khanna came to work at the Tim Hortons on Bathurst Street at 5 a.m. this morning, the drivers and passengers on the TTC bus and the BMW had been rescued and sent to the hospital. Khanna said another employee who was working the night shift told him the police took two hours to get people out of the car.
He offered coffee and muffins to the police and TTC staff who had been working at the scene overnight.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a loss,” he said. “It鈥檚 Monday morning. A busy morning.鈥
Corinne Dayag, an employee of Qunubu Cannabis on Wilson Avenue, said she was scared when she arrived at work around 10 a.m. and saw the extent of the damage. “I pretty much grew up in here聽... but that kind of accident doesn’t usually happen, especially with a big bus,” Dayag said.
Police towing the TTC bus involved in the crash with a stolen BMW.
Estella Ren
Investigators are asking anyone with information, including dash cam footage, to contact 海角社区官网police at 416-808-2222,聽or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or at聽.
With files from Elisa Mendes
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