Stolen minivan crashes into front porch of Etobicoke home

Residents of an Etobicoke neighbourhood are surveying the damage after a stolen minivan drove across a number of front yards and crashed into the front porch of a home.

Emergency crews were called to a home on Twenty Second Street, near Lake Shore Boulevard West and Kipling Avenue, just after 5:30 a.m on Wednesday.

Police said the minivan struck a pickup truck, which was parked on the street, took out several garbage and recycle bins on the curbs before ramming into the home’s concrete front porch.

The van’s front-end crumpled its and airbags deployed.

Sean McLoughlin, who appears to be a young driver, started his grandmother’s minivan and then went back into the house to get his lunch. He then heard the sound of spinning tires.

“I came out to the van, I just turned it on. I was just going in to grab one last thing, I was just grabbing my lunch, and I was going out to go to work,” McLoughlin said.

“I literally walked in, I said one thing to my dad and then I heard the tires spin and it’s gone. Like 30 seconds, less.”

When he looked out of the window, the minivan was gone. His dad was already on the phone calling police.

McLoughlin said he realizes he shouldn’t have left his keys in the car, adding that it was a “very, very bad idea.”

“I was watching the news and Kevin Frankish was saying you gotta make sure that you don’t leave your car running and walk away.”

Robert Gullins, who owns the home with the damaged porch, said the crash woke up him and his wife. They first thought Santa Claus had a crash landing, he said jokingly.

His wife thought a large tree next door had fallen on the ground.

“When I came down and opened the door, the van was there, my porch was gone,” Gullins said.

The male suspect then fled the scene.

When Gullins was calling 911, his wife said he ran across the street but only saw the back of him.

“Thank goodness nobody got hurt,” he said.

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