Katrina Moody was checking voicemail at work Tuesday when she heard a loud “crunch” from outside.

Moody looked out the front window of her office and saw a westbound van had slammed into a utility pole on Oxford Street, just west of Adelaide Street.

Then a man emerged from the badly damaged vehicle, said Moody, who works at Salt Therapy at 585 Oxford St.

“I saw him come out. He was very casual about it, grabbed his bag . . . and walked away from the scene,” she said, adding there didn’t appear to be anyone else in the van.

The noon-hour crash brought more than a dozen police vehicles racing to the scene and nearby streets in a bid to locate the missing driver. An officer with a search dog also scoured the area.

“Right now we have an individual who fled the scene and we are currently looking for them,” Const. Sandasha Bough said.

The driver is described as a white man in his twenties, 5 feet 7 inches tall. He was wearing a red jacket, black hoodie, possibly a blue hat and black backpack.

Bough said it was too early to determine whether the vehicle had been stolen.

Firefighters said the van was still running when they arrived, and mulch under the vehicle was smouldering. The van’s driver-side airbag had deployed.

Police closed Oxford Street between Adelaide and William streets as they investigated. London Hydro was dispatched to the crash scene.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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