A 19-year-old man has been charged with impaired driving causing death after three children were killed in an overnight crash on Highway 401 in Etobicoke, Toronto police say.
The crash happened at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday near Renforth Drive and Highway 401 on the eastbound off ramp, police said in a news release. The location is on the Toronto side of the border with Peel Region, police confirmed in an email.
A Dodge Caravan was heading eastbound on Highway 401 and exited at Renforth Drive, Acting Insp. Baheer Sarbanandan said. The vehicle was travelling at high speed on the exit ramp, lost control and went over a raised median.
It then collided with a Chrysler Pacifica minivan that was stopped at a red light, Sarbanandan said. Inside the minivan were a mother, her four children and an acquaintance of the family who was driving the vehicle.
A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A six-year-old girl was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Sarbanandan said.
A friend of the victims’ family identified the children to the Toronto Star Monday as Ramone, Jace and Maya Lavina.
A GoFundMe page has since been set up to support the Lavina family through its loss. As of Monday evening, it had raised about $85,000.
A woman, 35, and a man, 40, were taken to hospital along with a 10-year-old child. All three are in non-life threatening condition. The Toronto Star reported Monday that the child is the fourth sibling in the Lavina family, and the 35-year-old woman is their mother.
In a statement provided to CBC Monday, the Toronto Catholic District School Board confirmed all four children involved in the collision are students of the board.
The school board says that “age-appropriate mental health and faith-based supports” will be available in the impacted schools to help students, staff and community.
“In light of the ongoing police investigation, and out of respect for the family and our grieving school communities, our focus remains on offering support, care, and prayer for all those affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the board said in its statement.
‘A family is torn apart’
“A family is torn apart,” Sarbanandan said at a news conference on Sunday.
Ethan Lehouillier, of Georgetown, Ont., faces three counts each of impaired operation of a conveyance causing death and impaired operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm.
He has also been charged with three counts each of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Lehouillier was the only person in the Dodge Caravan, police said in a post on X.
Police are looking for witnesses who saw the Dodge Caravan driving on Highway 401 prior to the crash. They are also looking for dashcam footage, Sarbanandan said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.
Renforth Drive is closed for the police investigation.
Emergency crews deeply affected, fire chief says
Senior fire crews, including some with over 30 years of experience, said the crash was one of the more difficult scenes they have ever responded to, Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop said.
“As a parent, it’s just unimaginable, and the impact it has had on my people is deep,” he said.
Jessop praised the efforts of emergency crews, saying they did “incredible work” in removing the surviving victims from the wreckage.
Various wellness resources and peer support systems are available to help fire crews after they respond to calls like this, he said.
“These are the types of calls that none of us want to go to,” he said.
Almost a decade since Neville-Lake tragedy
The crash comes nearly a decade after a comparable incident in September 2015 in which another impaired driver caused the deaths of three children and their grandfather.
On Sept. 27, 2015, Daniel Neville-Lake, 9, his brother Harrison, 5, and sister Milly, 2, and Gary Neville, 65, died after the crash in Vaughan, Ont. The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also seriously injured.
Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2016 to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two of impaired driving causing bodily harm. He is also under a 12-year driving ban.
Muzzo was granted full parole in February 2021 and subjected to a number of conditions including that he stay out of Brampton, Ont., and the Regional Municipality of York.
Jennifer Neville-Lake, the children’s mother, made a post of “grief and solidarity” with the victims of Sunday’s crash in an afternoon Instagram post.
“I’m heartbroken after hearing the news,” she wrote in the caption to a photo depicting several pale yellow and blue packets of forget-me-not, sunflower and moonflower seeds. “I am so so sorry.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was “heartbroken by the tragic and senseless deaths of three young children” in a post on X on Sunday.
“The person responsible for this heinous act needs to face the harshest punishment possible,” the post said.
