Police admit they 'lost sight' of speeding van minutes before deadly Highway 401 wrong-way crash
Durham police provide new details about cascade of events leading up to deadly April crash
Officers pursuing a robbery suspect driving a cargo van — later involved in a deadly wrong-way crash east of Toronto — initially "lost sight" of the vehicle minutes before it barrelled onto Highway 401, according to a new police account of the cascade of events.
The report, submitted last month to the Durham Regional Police Service Board, lays out the most detailed public timeline offered so far by the agency involved in the chase.
The high-speed pursuit the evening of April 29 ended in a fiery pileup in Whitby, Ont., that killed four people, including three-month-old Aditya Vivaan and his two grandparents. The incident remains the focus of a probe by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Ontario's civilian police oversight agency.
In the recent report, Durham police confirmed "communications received a call from an off-duty officer regarding a commercial robbery from the LCBO in Clarington." A dispatcher gave Ontario Provincial Police a similar account of what set off the chaotic sequence of events in audio later posted online.
"The suspect had pulled a knife on the off-duty officer who had intervened to prevent the [liquor store] theft," Durham Regional Police Insp. Doris Carriere wrote in the report.
It's the first time the police agency publicly acknowledges an interaction occurred between the suspect and an off-duty officer at the LCBO.
When the man, later identified as Gagandeep Singh, 21, took off in a U-Haul van, the officer "strategically followed the suspect vehicle and disengaged when officers in marked cruisers caught up to the suspect vehicle," according to the new report.
After the Durham police cruisers caught up with the U-Haul, officers said they "lost sight of the vehicle." The report does not disclose where or how the van driver managed to evade the pursuing officers, but says "a brief time later, [the vehicle] was again located in Oshawa."
Oshawa is located about nine kilometres west of the Bowmanville liquor store where the chase began, within the regional municipality of Clarington. Roughly 20 minutes elapsed between the alleged robbery and the deadly crash, the SIU previously said.
According to police, the U-Haul "struck a cruiser" before entering the busy eastbound Highway 401 in the opposite direction of traffic.
In amateur videos reviewed by CBC News, 20 police vehicles could be seen pursuing the cargo van on either side of the highway. At least seven gave chase in the opposite direction to traffic.
Durham police have not said publicly why so many vehicles joined in the pursuit.
"In my mind, those events are not separated," Durham Regional Police Chief Peter Moreira previously said, referring to the robbery, followed by the chase and crash. "I'm going to let the SIU complete their investigation."
The police watchdog's probe is focused on two unnamed officers. "Neither subject official has agreed to an interview or [to] provide notes, as is their legal right," SIU spokesperson Kristy Denette told CBC in late June.
The van driver, Singh, was the fourth person to die in the six-vehicle crash. CBC previously reported that, at the time, Singh was under a court order not to be behind the wheel.
Van passenger due in court
Manpreet Gill, the sole passenger travelling in the U-Haul with Singh, suffered serious injuries in the crash. The SIU said he was recently released from hospital.
Gill, 38, is facing 12 criminal charges stemming from the day of the crash, including one count of allegedly robbing the LCBO. He has not been charged in relation to the collision.
Gill has been scheduled to appear for a bail hearing via video link next week. A cousin travelled from Vancouver to act as Gill's surety Thursday, as he appeared over the phone before a justice of the peace in Oshawa. A court clerk read the list of counts — including robbery and breach of probation — after Gill told the court he didn't know what charges he was facing.
After the incident, parents Gokulnath Manivannan and Ashwitha Jawahar from nearby Ajax said they were at a "complete loss of words to describe the agony and vacuum in our hearts" after losing their infant son Aditya, "who gave us so many precious memories in such a short time."
Gokulnath's parents Manivannan Srinivasapillai and Mahalakshmi Ananthakrishnan, visiting from Chennai, India, were also killed.
"The aftermath has left an indelible mark on our lives, with profound grief," Gokulnath said.
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