

Chris Fox, CP24.com





A TTC driver has been suspended with pay after the bus they were operating slammed into two Scarborough homes early Thursday morning, causing extensive damage to both buildings.

It happened on Oasis Boulevard in the McNicoll and Morningside avenues areas at around 1:40 a.m.

Surveillance footage obtained by CP24 shows the bus travelling along Oasis Boulevard when it fails to negotiate a curve in the roadway, jumps a curb and plows through a fence before continuing through the front yard of one of the homes.

The front balcony on one of the homes collapsed as a result of the collision.

Several vehicles parked outside the homes were also damaged as a result.

Police say that the driver of the TTC bus was taken to hospital as a precaution following the collision.

The residents, meanwhile, were kept out of their homes overnight while crews towed away the bus and began to assess the damage.

“Right now the driver is suspended with pay pending the outcome of our investigation and that is common when we have cases like this,” TTC spokesperson Stuart Green told CP24 on Thursday afternoon. “We will look into it and we know Toronto police are looking into it. We will work with Toronto police in whatever way we can to assist them while also conducting our own review and once we finalize that we will take whatever steps we need to take after that.”

Green said that the TTC will be conducting a fitness for duty test as part of their own internal investigation and will also inspect the bus for possible mechanical deficiencies.

He said that investigators will also be reviewing surveillance camera footage from on board the bus in the hopes that it could provide further clarity on what transpired.

“It is all a part of the investigation, looking at the condition of bus, the condition of the road, all of that,” he said.

‘Like a bomb exploding’

The owner of one of the homes struck by the bus told CP24 that he was sleeping when he was awaken by a loud crashing noise that he described as being “like a bomb exploding.”

He said that he rushed downstairs to see all three of his cars damaged and the TTC bus through the front of his neighbour’s home.

“We came out and my wife started screaming and my kids started screaming and then we called 911,” he told CP24 early Thursday morning.

It remains unclear when the displaced residents will be able to return home.

Police previously told CP24 that both buildings will have to be inspected by engineers.

I don’t think they are going to be allowed to return to their house tonight because it is not safe,” Insp. Jim Gotell told CP24 at the scene. “It will not be safe to go back into the house until the engineer goes into the house and makes a determination.”