Police say driver in fatal Gardiner hit-and-run may have taken ride-share home

Toronto police say a man facing impaired driving charges in a hit-and-run collision on the Gardiner Expressway which killed one woman and left another seriously injured may have used a ride-share or taxi to get home after fleeing the scene of the collision on foot.

Police and paramedics were called to the eastbound lanes of the expressway, east of Dufferin Street, shortly after 2 a.m. for a two-vehicle collision.

According to police, a black four-door Audi sedan was traveling at a high rate of speed when it collided with the rear of a KIA sedan carrying five people.

Toronto Paramedic Services said they transported one person to hospital in critical condition and four others with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said one of the adults who was injured – a 40-year-old woman– was transported to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A 20-year-old woman from the same vehicle sustained “life-altering injuries,” while a two-year-old child from that vehicle was transported to hospital with minor injuries, police said.

“The driver of the black Audi was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene on foot. He was walking on the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway towards Spadina Avenue,” police said in a news release.

The man who was driving the second vehicle fled the scene and made it all the way to his home outside Toronto, police said. He has since been taken into custody.

Police said 48-year-old Vance Kong of Whitby has now been charged with a list of offences, including impaired operation causing death, impaired operation causing bodily harm, and failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing death.

“Investigators believe that the driver of the Audi may have been picked up in the Lakeshore Boulevard and Spadina Avenue area by a ride-share or taxi,” police said.

They are asking anyone who may have picked up a passenger in that area between 2:04 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. to reach out to police.

Police are also asking anyone with dash camera footage, surveillance footage or other information related to the incident to reach out to investigators or call Crime Stoppers anonymously.

All eastbound lanes of the expressway were blocked in the area as police investigated the deadly collision. The highway reopened around 7 a.m.