Video shows dramatic crash on Toronto highway that got driver jail time
CTV
A car's cameras captured the heart-stopping seconds leading up to a dramatic crash on the Gardiner Expressway that sent a taxi flying and seriously injured two people — footage so 'obviously dangerous' that a Toronto judge sentenced the driver to nine months in jail.
A car's cameras captured the heart-stopping seconds leading up to a dramatic crash on the Gardiner Expressway that sent a taxi flying and seriously injured two people — footage so "obviously dangerous" that a Toronto judge sentenced the driver to nine months in jail.
Jerzy Bogacz, who pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, told the court he was rushing home in his BMW on a Sunday in January 2022 because of a family emergency. But Justice Apple Newton-Smith said there's no justification for driving that dangerously.
"The video shows a busy highway full of cars taking people about their business on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon. Watching the video, Mr. Bogacz's driving is so obviously dangerous that the accident appears to be inevitable. It is only a matter of luck that there were not more victims and that no one was killed," Newton-Smith said in her October ruling.
The video shows Bogacz "making erratic lane changes and driving in such a dangerous manner that numerous calls were placed to 911 by concerned motorists," she said.
At 2:15 p.m., Bogacz made a "sudden and dangerous lane change, passing a vehicle on the right before flipping in the air five times."
The video shows the BMW clip a taxi in the right lane, whose rear hatch immediately buckles as the car pivots towards the guardrails on the right side of the Gardiner, near the Exhibition grounds.
The taxi goes flying and rolls five times before stopping on the other side of the highway as nearby drivers screech to a halt.
