A 45-year-old man is accused of flipping a taxi into a tractor-trailer on the highway while he was sitting in the front passenger seat, Ontario Provincial Police said.
The incident happened around 5:00 p.m. Wednesday near Highway 412 Taunton Road.
Dashcam footage posted on social media showed the taxi pulling up alongside the truck, which was driving in the same direction in the lane next to it.
Accused reaches over and grabs the steering wheel. The car crashes into a tractor-trailer before the driver can control the wheel.
Then he reaches again, chucking the wheel, the car crashes into the truck, scraping against the trailer.
Other passengers in the back of the car can be heard screaming, while the driver repeatedly yells “What the f-ck are you doing?”
The car then stops on the road and the accused and the driver get out. A tractor-trailer is seen pulling in the distance.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt called the footage “absolutely shocking”.
“The dashcam definitely speaks for itself,” he said.
Four people were sitting in the back passenger seat at the time, Schmidt said. The accused knew the other passengers, but police did not reveal their relationship.
He said that although there was a lot of damage in the incident, there were no human casualties.
The accused has been charged with dangerous driving, misdemeanor endangering life and damage to property, Schmidt said.
He remains in custody after a bail hearing on Friday.
Police are trying to understand the reason
Schmidt said police are trying to understand what was going through the mind of the accused.
He said that although the investigation is in the initial stage, the incident is not related to insurance fraud.
He said dashcams can be “an absolute lifesaver” for drivers involved in collisions.
“It could lead to an indictment or an exoneration, but it's very telling when you have videos like this that really help investigators and help everyone understand what's going on,” he said.
