OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt details the moments leading up to a man being struck and killed on HWY 401 this morning. pic.twitter.com/js6SKWKi46
— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) December 6, 2016
Provincial police say a man lost his life on Hwy 401 after he was hit by as many as five vehicles.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says police began getting calls just before 3:30 a.m. Tuesday about a PT cruiser moving erratically from Islington Ave onto the eastbound 401 collector lanes from Islington Ave with a flat tire. Schmidt says the car kept going at a highway speed.
As the vehicle approached Hwy 400, the flattered rubber came off the rim. But the car kept going as sparks flew. That is when Schmidt says the driver of the PT cruiser pulled over and some witnesses did too.
"The driver apparently got out of his vehicle, either to assess the damage, maybe to look for help," Schmidt tells NEWSTALK 1010. "We're not sure exactly what he was doing. But he entered the eastbound lanes of traffic, the through lanes. He was truck several times by vehicles and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Schmidt told reporters the 31-year-old Toronto man appears to have been hit by five vehicles, but there may have been others.
Schmidt says police are investigating whether the man was driving erratically because of the flat, because of mechanical trouble or because he might have been impaired.