- mer. 12 sept. 2007 19:48
#104811
Woodslee trucker killed in Highway 401 accident
Third life lost on road in hours
Chris Thompson and Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A South Woodslee trucker is dead following a horrifying chain of events Tuesday on Highway 401 that also took the lives of a mother and daughter in a separate collision.
Timothy McDermott, 50, died after his tractor-trailer slammed into another truck that was stopping for a police road closure from a previous crash that killed Ashley Garrod, 22, and her mother Elizabeth Thom, 52, from London.
The fiery tractor-trailer collision came shortly after 11 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Highway 401, near Colonel Talbot Road. Traffic was being diverted off the highway after the 4 a.m. crash that killed the two London women.
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MANGLED RIG: Timothy McDermott, of South Woodslee, died Tuesday in this tractor-trailer after he rear-ended another transport truck that was slowing for a traffic detour caused by an earlier fatal accident on Highway 401.
Derek Ruttan, Sun Media
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"The driver of the second tractor-trailer was killed."
Members of McDermott's family declined comment Tuesday night.
Brampton's Harpreet Pannu, 29, who was driving the rig that McDermott's truck rammed into, was taken to Victoria Hospital in London with non-life- threatening injuries.
Graham said the impact of the crash caused a large fire that damaged the highway so badly its eastbound lanes were shut down until around 4 p.m., about 12 hours after the first accident.
"For 12 hours, to have the 401 closed, that's pretty major," said Graham. "Because of the culmination of events, that is what has occurred. It's virtually unheard of to close it for that length of time."
The eastbound lanes were closed for a five-kilometre stretch at Union Road and traffic was detoured onto rural roads in Elgin County, which had difficulty handling the volume, Graham said.
Police said no charges will be laid in the crash that killed McDermott.
But a number of charges have been laid against the truck driver who police say left the scene after being involved in the first crash that killed the London women.
Stefan Fogiel, 61, of Acton, was arrested and is facing charges of failing to remain at the scene of an accident causing death, resisting arrest, failing to properly maintain log books and failing to have a pre-trip inspection.
Fogiel was to appear in a London court for a show cause hearing. He wasn't hurt in the accident.
SAW HEADLIGHTS
OPP got a report of that crash around 4 a.m., when a passing motorist called after seeing headlights in the eastbound ditch of the highway.
Officers found a heavily damaged vehicle in the ditch along with two deceased people, later identified as Garrod and Thom.
Preliminary investigation indicated that a second vehicle had been involved in the accident. Officers located a vehicle, a tractor-trailer, and Fogiel at the Flying J truck stop further east on Highbury Avenue south of the 401.
It had sustained major damage to its right side and was missing its right headlamp.
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61 ans, un grand chauffeur d'ex-pé-rienceeeee, wow
Ticket d'avoir omis de faire son log book, une v-a-d, résister à son arrestation, se pousser d'une scène d'accident
- By IronWolf2