Lacie Brundritt and her son Kyle. (Photo courtesy of familiesfirst.ca)Lacie Brundritt and her son Kyle. (Photo courtesy of familiesfirst.ca)
Chatham

Charges Laid After Fatal Hwy. 401 Crash In July

The OPP have charged a 52-year-old Brampton man in connection with a crash on the Hwy. 401 that killed a 42-year-old Amherstburg woman and her 14-year-old son this past summer.

Police say the man was driving a transport truck that smashed into the back of a pickup truck, causing a six-vehicle pile up on the highway near Dillon Rd. at around 4:30pm on Sunday, July 30, 2017.

Lacie Brundritt and her son Kyle Brundritt were pronounced dead at the scene. Kyle's 39-year-old father, who was driving the pickup truck that they were riding in, was airlifted to hospital from the scene with serious injuries. Another 12-year-old boy who was also in the vehicle at the time was transported by ambulance to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The man who was behind the wheel of the transport truck that smashed into their pickup is now charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes says the crash is one of three recent incidents where a transport truck travelling on a highway crashed into the back of traffic that was stopped or had slowed down due to road construction or a collision ahead.

"This series of horrific collisions is driver inattention at its worst and the most tragic reminder in recent history of the tremendous toll on the lives of innocent citizens when commercial transport truck drivers are not paying full attention to the road," says Hawkes. "We are putting drivers on notice that the OPP will pursue every investigative avenue following serious collisions and hold at-fault drivers accountable to the full extent of the law."

The scene of a fatal crash on the Hwy. 401 near Dillon Rd. July 30, 2017. (Photo courtesy of OPP) The scene of a fatal crash on the Hwy. 401 near Dillon Rd. July 30, 2017. (Photo courtesy of OPP)

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