'It hurts us all': Essex MPP calls for answers after Highway 401 crash claims mother and son
Two crashes happened on the same stretch of road Sunday
Essex MPP Taras Natyshak is calling on the Ministry of Transportation and provincial police for answers after a six-vehicle collision Sunday killed a mother and son from Amherstburg, leaving the community in mourning.
Lacie Brundritt, 42, and her son Kyle, 14, were in a pickup truck with two other people when a tractor trailer heading west collided with several vehicles that were stopped near Dillon Road around 4:40 p.m., according to Ontario Provincial Police.
"It's reverberated across our community," said the NDP MPP. "They were well-known and loved. So it sends a shockwave and it hurts us all."
Natyshak said he has requested information from the ministry and OPP to learn how a deadly crash could happen near a controlled construction zone.
"Realistically, construction zones anywhere in Ontario should be the safest places on our roadways," he said.
The crash happened after a westbound truck collided with five other vehicles that were stopped due to a separate collision, according to Chatham-Kent OPP Const. Jay Denorer.
There's quite an outcry for some answers,- Taras Natyshak, Essex MPP
Police are still investigating and are asking anyone with information or a video of the crash to contact them.
Denorer said it does "seem as though" crashes involving transport trucks are on the rise, but added no charges have been laid in the fatal crash.
"It's bewildering to me that we've had so many accidents, two just on the same day and one of them resulting in a two fatalities," said Natyshak, who added he has been fielding calls from friends and members of the Brundritt family.
"There's quite an outcry for some answers," he said.
The MPP's statement comes just days after Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley asked the province to review a "dangerous situation" on Highway 402 near the Blue Water Bridge following two serious collisions involving multiple tractor-trailers.
Alabama truck driver Dannie Faulk, 61, was killed on July 19 when a truck smashed into the back of another transport waiting in line to cross the border. Just six days later, three other tractor-trailers collided while waiting for the bridge — all three drivers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.