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Another family lost because a drunk driver.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/1237318--two-dead-after-suv-heading-wrong-way-on-qew-crashes-into-van
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/1237318--two-dead-after-suv-heading-wrong-way-on-qew-crashes-into-van
Brian Wijeratne woke Sunday morning to loud pounding on the door.He went downstairs and opened it. Two OPP officers were standing there.They told him there had been an accident.They told him that his father and younger sister were dead.Jayantha, 49, and Eleesha, 16, were killed in a head-on crash with an alleged drunk driver who was going the wrong way on the eastbound QEW ramp onto Hwy. 427 north around 2:45 a.m.
Sunday morning.Antonette, Wijeratne’s mother, was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.The 19-year-old driver of the SUV that plowed into their minivan was also taken to hospital with serious injuries. Police said he will be charged with impaired driving.The family was returning from a 5-day vacation in Florida. They’d just dropped off an aunt and uncle in Mississauga and were nearly back at their North York home.Sgt. Dave Woodford said police had received calls about the vehicle on the wrong side of the road and were responding.
But they were too late.Wijeratne, 19, had to tell his mother, in critical condition at Sunnybrook, that her daughter and husband were dead.“It just destroyed her,” said Wijeratne.His parents brought their young children to Canada from Sri Lanka on Jan. 29, 2000, escaping civil war and looking for better opportunities.Jayantha worked as a maintenance manager at hotels after arriving in Canada. He encouraged his children to study hard, to build a future.Wijeratne is studying engineering at Ryerson University, and Eleesha was to start Grade 12 at Bishop Allen Academy in the fall.
She planned to become a chemical engineer. Her dream schools were McMaster or Waterloo.She was a fun-loving and always joking — a mirror of her father, said Wijeratne.And they are gone, because of an alleged drunk driver, he said.“I don’t want to believe it, it just seems like a dream. It’s not real,” said Wijeratne.
Sunday morning.Antonette, Wijeratne’s mother, was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.The 19-year-old driver of the SUV that plowed into their minivan was also taken to hospital with serious injuries. Police said he will be charged with impaired driving.The family was returning from a 5-day vacation in Florida. They’d just dropped off an aunt and uncle in Mississauga and were nearly back at their North York home.Sgt. Dave Woodford said police had received calls about the vehicle on the wrong side of the road and were responding.
But they were too late.Wijeratne, 19, had to tell his mother, in critical condition at Sunnybrook, that her daughter and husband were dead.“It just destroyed her,” said Wijeratne.His parents brought their young children to Canada from Sri Lanka on Jan. 29, 2000, escaping civil war and looking for better opportunities.Jayantha worked as a maintenance manager at hotels after arriving in Canada. He encouraged his children to study hard, to build a future.Wijeratne is studying engineering at Ryerson University, and Eleesha was to start Grade 12 at Bishop Allen Academy in the fall.
She planned to become a chemical engineer. Her dream schools were McMaster or Waterloo.She was a fun-loving and always joking — a mirror of her father, said Wijeratne.And they are gone, because of an alleged drunk driver, he said.“I don’t want to believe it, it just seems like a dream. It’s not real,” said Wijeratne.
