The Ontario Provincial Police is looking for witnesses after a heated road rage episode on Canada’s busiest highway resulted in a fiery car crash.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CTV News Channel the confrontation began around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night, when a Volkswagen car was travelling west on Highway 401 near Dixie Road in Mississauga, west of Toronto.
The car attempted to manoeuvre around a group of motorcyclists taking up multiple lanes and performing stunts on the road. As the male driver and his girlfriend in the car tried to pass, an exchange occurred between the two groups and the car's side mirror was allegedly damaged in the process.
The driver’s girlfriend spoke to CTV Toronto by phone on the condition of anonymity on Friday. She said that, after her car’s side mirror was smashed by one of the motorcyclists, she and her boyfriend pulled over on the exit ramp at Dixie Road and the motorcycle riders followed them off the highway.
She said she expected they would apologize for the mirror. But the situation on the side of the road escalated when the woman confronted the biker she said broke the mirror.
“I went up to him and I grabbed him by the back of the neck and I asked him what his name was and he turned around and punched me in the face and knocked me out,” she said.
The woman said she ended up with a bruised eye, a sprained elbow and some minor cuts. She added that she and her boyfriend weren’t doing anything wrong and that they were just trying to get home that evening.
“I couldn’t believe that this whole thing happened,” she said. “I just can’t believe that any guy would have the audacity to do that to anyone.”
The woman said she fell to the ground and when she woke up she was surrounded by witnesses but her boyfriend and the motorcyclists were gone. The passenger said she doesn’t know exactly why her boyfriend drove off after she was punched, but she assumes he was trying to chase the motorcycle riders who ran off to get some answers from them.
The police said the driver of the car ended up losing control on Aerowood Drive where the car crashed into a retaining wall, flipped over and burst into flames.
“Fortunately, the driver was able to get out his vehicle with only minor injuries thanks to some assistance from some witnesses,” Schmidt said.
The driver’s girlfriend said that a police officer told her that her boyfriend was swarmed by the motorcyclists and that’s why he crashed the car.
The OPP said they are still looking for the motorcycle riders and are appealing to witnesses with information to call the Port Credit OPP detachment.
“There’s always going to be two sides to a story and we want to speak to the riders of the motorcycles as well,” Schmidt said.
The police said the male driver, 22-year-old Adrei Sisu from Kitchener, Ont., is facing a host of criminal charges including dangerous driving and drug possession, as well as some Highway Traffic Act offences such as driving with a suspended licence and driving contrary to his novice driver conditions.
Police allege that Sisu had marijuana and cocaine on him and was driving with a suspended license.
He is in custody and attended a bail hearing in a Brampton, Ont. courthouse on Friday.
Schmidt cautioned the public about vigilantism during traffic confrontations. He said that drivers should write down a description of the vehicle, the licence plate and call 9-1-1 instead.
“We don’t want to see people putting themselves and the rest of the motoring public at risk by taking chances and trying to solve problems on their own,” Schmidt said.
