A 38-year-old person is dead and four others were hospitalized, including two police officers, following two separate crashes on Highway 401 in Pickering early Sunday morning.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to the first incident around 2:40 a.m. near Westney Road. A pickup truck traveling the wrong direction in the eastbound lanes collided with a passenger vehicle.
The driver of the passenger vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. The 41-year-old driver of the pickup truck was transported to the hospital with minor injuries and has since been charged with dangerous and impaired operation causing death.
Investigation into Highway 401 Crashes
A second, unrelated collision occurred in the same area around 4:25 a.m. while officers were establishing road closures. An eastbound passenger vehicle drove through barricades and struck the rear of a parked police cruiser.
At the time of the impact, the cruiser was positioned in the inside left lane with a Ministry of Transportation truck stationed in the center lane. Barricades had been placed at an angle to divert traffic toward Brock Road.
Two officers were initially taken to the hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries, while the driver of the passenger vehicle suffered minor injuries. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the serious injury of a 52-year-old man.
The SIU later confirmed that the two officers involved in the second crash were released from the hospital with minor injuries. Durham Regional Police Service assisted the OPP in the fatal collision investigation.
All eastbound lanes at Whites Road and the eastbound collector lanes at Brock Road were closed during the investigation but have since reopened.
Police are urging anyone who witnessed the collisions or possesses dashcam footage to contact the OPP or Crime Stoppers.
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