Witness recalls horror as woman fatally struck on sidewalk
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun
First posted: Thursday, November 06, 2014 02:30 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, November 06, 2014 05:52 PM EST
TORONTO - A minivan jumped a curb, smashed into a light standard and hit a woman, sending her flying through the air and then crashing down on the pavement to her death in Scarborough Thursday.
It was a grisly sight that will forever haunt Sinan Yukselir, a construction worker who ran to help the mortally wounded pedestrian only to have her die in his arms.
“When I looked that way, the light was turning from yellow to red and this (woman in a minivan) was coming really fast,” he said Thursday, still visibly shaken as he recalled the deadly collision.
Yukselir was taking tools out of his car on Midland Ave., north of Eglinton Ave. E., and just happened to look down the street as the fatal collision unfolded shortly before 1 p.m.
The pedestrian was walking along the sidewalk northbound on Midland toward the intersection at Gilder Rd. when she was suddenly hit by a woman driving in a minivan, which was also travelling north, he said.
“She went up on the sidewalk, hit the pole and hit that poor lady together,” Yukselir said, explaining the light standard and the pedestrian were sent soaring through the air several metres.
“There was other people, too,” he said, adding those pedestrians were “lucky” they weren’t run down as well.
By the time he got to the injured pedestrian’s side, Yukselir said she appeared “yellow” and was bleeding badly.
He said the woman’s purse was tangled around her neck so he pulled out his work knife — which was still covered in dried blood as he described the ordeal — and cut the strap.
“She was unconscious but her eyes were open.” Yukselir recalled.
He tried to stem the bleeding and comforted the woman as she gasped her final breaths.
“She died in my arms,” Yukselir said.
The motorist remained at the scene and he saw her on the phone, presumably talking to a 911 operator.
But Yukselir was “shocked” by the people who didn’t stop to help — those who narrowly escaped being run down and a TTC driver in a bus.
“Shame on them. It was a life,” he said. “It was not a cat, it was not a dog, it was a human being.”
Toronto Police confirm they received a 911 call at 12:55 p.m., but by the time officers and other emergency responders arrived at the scene it was too late.
“We have one individual who has been pronounced dead,” traffic services Const. Clint Stibbe said.
Police have identified the 42-year-old victim, but her name was not released.
The “chain of events” are still under investigation and “it’s far too early to say if charges will be laid,” Stibbe said.
“We do know that that vehicle left the roadway for some reason,” he said. “Now we have to determine what the reason was. Was it mechanical, was it some outside influence or was it something that happened inside the car?”
The woman, 33, who was driving the minivan was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
She will no doubt “be traumatized by what has occurred,” Stibbe said.
Investigators have spoken to a number of witnesses who returned to the scene later in the afternoon, but he urged anyone else who saw the incident to come forward.
Toronto Police launched their week-long Step up and Be Safe pedestrian safety campaign on Monday because there tends to be more pedestrian collisions in the days following turning the clocks back an hour.
While there has been a rash of pedestrians killed recently, five since early October, such fatalities are actually down so far this year from 2013.
There have been 38 road fatalities in the city so far this year, which includes 24 pedestrians. Last year at this time there were 52 fatalities overall and 32 of those deaths were pedestrians.
chris.doucette@sunmedia.ca
In the last five weeks, six people have been killed on city roads, including five pedestrians:
By Chris Doucette, Toronto Sun
First posted: Thursday, November 06, 2014 02:30 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, November 06, 2014 05:52 PM EST
TORONTO - A minivan jumped a curb, smashed into a light standard and hit a woman, sending her flying through the air and then crashing down on the pavement to her death in Scarborough Thursday.
It was a grisly sight that will forever haunt Sinan Yukselir, a construction worker who ran to help the mortally wounded pedestrian only to have her die in his arms.
“When I looked that way, the light was turning from yellow to red and this (woman in a minivan) was coming really fast,” he said Thursday, still visibly shaken as he recalled the deadly collision.
Yukselir was taking tools out of his car on Midland Ave., north of Eglinton Ave. E., and just happened to look down the street as the fatal collision unfolded shortly before 1 p.m.
The pedestrian was walking along the sidewalk northbound on Midland toward the intersection at Gilder Rd. when she was suddenly hit by a woman driving in a minivan, which was also travelling north, he said.
“She went up on the sidewalk, hit the pole and hit that poor lady together,” Yukselir said, explaining the light standard and the pedestrian were sent soaring through the air several metres.
“There was other people, too,” he said, adding those pedestrians were “lucky” they weren’t run down as well.
By the time he got to the injured pedestrian’s side, Yukselir said she appeared “yellow” and was bleeding badly.
He said the woman’s purse was tangled around her neck so he pulled out his work knife — which was still covered in dried blood as he described the ordeal — and cut the strap.
“She was unconscious but her eyes were open.” Yukselir recalled.
He tried to stem the bleeding and comforted the woman as she gasped her final breaths.
“She died in my arms,” Yukselir said.
The motorist remained at the scene and he saw her on the phone, presumably talking to a 911 operator.
But Yukselir was “shocked” by the people who didn’t stop to help — those who narrowly escaped being run down and a TTC driver in a bus.
“Shame on them. It was a life,” he said. “It was not a cat, it was not a dog, it was a human being.”
Toronto Police confirm they received a 911 call at 12:55 p.m., but by the time officers and other emergency responders arrived at the scene it was too late.
“We have one individual who has been pronounced dead,” traffic services Const. Clint Stibbe said.
Police have identified the 42-year-old victim, but her name was not released.
The “chain of events” are still under investigation and “it’s far too early to say if charges will be laid,” Stibbe said.
“We do know that that vehicle left the roadway for some reason,” he said. “Now we have to determine what the reason was. Was it mechanical, was it some outside influence or was it something that happened inside the car?”
The woman, 33, who was driving the minivan was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
She will no doubt “be traumatized by what has occurred,” Stibbe said.
Investigators have spoken to a number of witnesses who returned to the scene later in the afternoon, but he urged anyone else who saw the incident to come forward.
Toronto Police launched their week-long Step up and Be Safe pedestrian safety campaign on Monday because there tends to be more pedestrian collisions in the days following turning the clocks back an hour.
While there has been a rash of pedestrians killed recently, five since early October, such fatalities are actually down so far this year from 2013.
There have been 38 road fatalities in the city so far this year, which includes 24 pedestrians. Last year at this time there were 52 fatalities overall and 32 of those deaths were pedestrians.
chris.doucette@sunmedia.ca
In the last five weeks, six people have been killed on city roads, including five pedestrians:
- A woman, 42, was killed by a minivan on Midland Ave., north of Eglinton Ave. E., on Thursday.
- A man, 28, was killed when he crashed into a tree on Orton Park Rd., near Brimorton Rd., on Tuesday.
- A man, 71, on a bicycle was killed by pickup truck at Victoria Park Ave. and O’Connor Dr. on Oct. 28.
- A woman, 57, was killed crossing Victoria Park Ave., south of Eglinton Ave. E., on Oct. 16.
- A woman, 65, was killed by a TTC bus on Lawrence Ave. W., near Allen Rd., on Oct. 11.
- A man, 63, riding a bicycle was killed crossing Warden Ave., north of Eglinton Ave. E., on Oct. 9.