Woman freed from being stuck under streetcar at Yonge and St. Clair

TORONTO, Ont. – A woman has been rushed to hospital after she was trapped under a streetcar on St. Clair., just west of Yonge, Wednesday afternoon.

The 19-year-old was reportedly jaywalking, trying to beat the streetcar, when it hit her and hooked her, and she was dragged underneath. Those in the area told 680News they were shaking after they heard a bang, followed by a scream.

“She slipped right under. She literally went right under the streetcar. I’m like ‘oh my god. No wonder she got hit’,” a woman in the area told 680News. “Who knows, was the wheel on her arm or her legs? It was horrific.”

“It was like a flurry of colour and then, bang” said Margie, who was out on her lunch break when she saw the incident take place. “It stopped, it screeched, and that was it. Next thing I know, she’s under.”

She was removed before 1 p.m. after crews removed the front bottom part of the streetcar.

“I thought she was dead. When they come and they say she’s alive, we all clapped and screamed,” Mariam told 680News.

“They put the blocks at the front of the streetcar, the jacks on the side, and then they put a big compressed airbag on the front, and they raised it very slowly,” said Manny, who was watching the rescue efforts.

“Four or five firefighters crawled right underneath, and they got her into the stretcher,” he told 680News, adding that the process took about 15 to 20 minutes.

“What a great job they did,” commented another man. “Four firefighters climbed underneath the streetcar to free the woman. They’re heroes.”

The woman’s mother, who had dropped her off only moments before she tried to jaywalk, was in complete shock.

“They were holding her and making her sit down” said Mariam.

EMS said she suffered serious injuries to her hip and abdomen, but she is in stable condition and is expected to recover.

Sergeant Paul Bainard with Traffic Services said the streetcar driver was “broken up as you would imagine him to be.”

Bainard said the teen is lucky to be alive thanks to the quick action of the driver, and this should serve as a warning for others who cross in the middle of the street.

“There’s large spaces between blocks, so people tend to cross mid-block. It’s a dangerous process. You’re going across what’s in essence, six lanes,” he said. “TTC trains and streetcars – they cannot stop on a dime, so if you see one, give it the right of way, because as much as the operator would like to assist, he can’t stop.”

Many who work in the area said it’s the second time in a month and a half that someone has been struck by a streetcar in the area, and that jaywalking is becoming far too common.