Three Hospitalized After Highway 401 Crash

Ontario Provincial Police said a fleeing vehicle linked to a stolen-vehicle call crashed with another vehicle on Highway 401 in Puslinch on Friday night, sending three people to hospital. Police said the incident began at about 8:50 p.m. on May 22, when officers from the Mississauga detachment responded to reports of a stolen vehicle at a westbound Highway 401 service centre. The vehicle fled and was later involved in a collision with a passenger vehicle on the highway, according to OPP. Three occupants of the passenger vehicle were transported to hospital with minor injuries. The crash turned an initial stolen-vehicle call into a broader police investigation involving the Ontario Provincial Police, the Special Investigations Unit and later youth criminal charges. By Saturday afternoon, OPP said five 16-year-olds had been charged in connection with the incident. The identities of the accused were withheld under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. ### Where did the crash start, and what do police say happened on the highway? OPP said the sequence began at a highway service centre on westbound Highway 401 in Puslinch Township. Officers were responding to a report of a stolen vehicle when, police said, the vehicle left the scene. The highway collision happened after the vehicle fled, according to the OPP account released through local media. Police said the fleeing vehicle then collided with a passenger vehicle on Highway 401. The three injured people were in that passenger vehicle, not in the vehicle police had been investigating. ### Who was hurt, and how serious were the injuries? Three people were taken to hospital with what police described as minor injuries. OPP did not publicly identify the injured occupants or give their ages. The Special Investigations Unit invoked its mandate after the incident. In Ontario, the SIU investigates cases involving police in which there has been death, serious injury, discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault. ### Who has been charged? OPP said a 16-year-old from Hamilton was charged with possession of property obtained by crime over C$5,000, operation causing bodily harm, failure to stop after accident, flight from peace officer, three counts of being a Class G1 licence holder unaccompanied by a qualified driver, disobey sign and fail to signal stop. Four other 16-year-olds from Hamilton, Dundas and Mississauga were each charged with possession of property obtained by crime over C$5,000, police said. OPP did not release the names of any of the accused because they are youths. ### Why are Waterloo Region police mentioned in some early reports? Puslinch sits near the Waterloo Region boundary, and early local reports framed the collision through its effect on traffic and emergency response in the broader area. The charging update and the SIU notice, however, identified the investigating police agency as the Mississauga detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. Waterloo Regional Police’s public incidents page did not list a matching major Highway 401 collision entry in the material reviewed on Sunday. The OPP account is the clearest public description so far of how the crash began and which agency handled the pursuit-linked investigation. ### What happens next in the case? The Ontario Provincial Police said the five accused youths are scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Guelph on July 8. The SIU mandate remains active, and OPP said that because of that outside investigation it would not provide further information beyond its released statements. Anyone with information was asked by OPP to contact the Mississauga detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.