Youth charged in fatal Caledon crash

By News Staff and The Canadian Press

An underage driver has been charged after a fatal crash in Caledon on Tuesday morning.

It happened on Hurontario Street near Teen Ranch, north of High Point Sideroad, around 4:15 a.m.

Police said the boy was driving north on Hurontario, when the car crossed into the southbound lanes, landed in a ditch, and hit a brick barrier and a hydro pole.

The passenger, a girl, was pronounced dead at the scene, while the boy was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Meanwhile, the owner of a van stolen from the Loafer’s Lake Recreation Centre in Brampton on Sunday said police told him it was his vehicle that was involved in the crash.

Police have charged the driver with fail to comply with undertaking, possession property obtained by crime over $5,000, criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of motor vehicle causing death contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. He is due in an Orangeville court on Friday.

Because both the driver and passenger are younger than 16 years old, police are not releasing their names.

Hurontario was closed for seven hours for the investigation.

OPP Highway Safety spokeswoman Lynda Cranney said collisions involving young drivers without licences are rare, and not something for which the force compiles statistics.

There have been a few recent cases of underage drivers killing or injuring others in Ontario.

A 16-year-old Toronto boy was killed in 2010 when he was ejected from a car driven by a 15-year-old boy.

In 2013, two 13-year-old boys and one 15-year-old boy who police allege were driving a stolen truck were arrested in Oshawa and charged with several offences. The province’s police watchdog found the boy driving the truck lost control of the vehicle and seriously injured three pedestrians.

In 2011, a York Region police officer was killed after stopping a teen at the wheel of a minivan. The 15-year-old drove away, dragging Const. Garrett Styles for several metres before the vehicle rolled over and pinned the officer.

The driver, who is now quadriplegic as a result of the crash, was found guilty last year of first-degree murder in connection with the incident. He was sentenced to nine years of conditional supervision rather than prison time.

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