

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





A 59-year-old man is facing charges in connection with a possible road rage incident that left a 17-month-old baby in critical condition in hospital.

The crash occurred on Monday in the eastbound collector lanes of Highway 401, near Leslie Street.

Shortly before 1 a.m., a cab carrying a family of five was rear-ended by a white SUV carrying three people, police said. A third vehicle was also involved.

In an update Wednesday, Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said that it appears some sort of altercation between the cab and the third vehicle led to the crash.

“The vehicle in front of it (the cab) slowed down for some type of street-justice type of interaction. Obviously there was some sort of incident that took place prior to this,” Schmidt said.

“The driver slowed down traffic in a live lane causing a minor collision. That minor collision resulted in these vehicles coming to a stop or very nearly stopped in the live lanes of Highway 401, at which point a vehicle coming from behind was unable to avoid and struck the rear-end of that red cab.”

All five people from the cab, including three children, were taken to hospital. Two of the children sustained minor injuries while the third, a 17-month-old girl, sustained critical injuries. Two women, including the driver of the cab, were also seriously injured in the crash.

Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday that the baby girl remains in critical condition in hospital.

Schmidt said the child was injured despite having been properly secured in the vehicle and said there is “no place” for road rage on the highways.

“The fact is that we have a 17-month-old little baby girl who is in critical condition right now with very serious injuries. That should not be where she is,” Schmidt said. “This is absolutely heartbreaking for everyone involved.”

The driver of the vehicle that precipitated the collision was taken into custody on Tuesday.

Sanath DeSilva of Toronto has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, police said.

DeSilva made a court appearance for a bail hearing Wednesday morning.