Gardiners Road collision results in mere minor injuries
Editorial note: An earlier version of this article stated that the silver Toyota struck the snow plow of a City of Kingston-owned pickup truck. While the Toyota did strike the snow plow blade of a pickup truck, that truck was not owned by the City of Kingston. We regret this error and any confusion it may have caused.
Update (Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022):
Kingston Police have responded to further Kingstonist inquiries looking for clarification, and have confirmed that impaired driving was not involved in this collision, and that no criminal charges have been laid. The case of beer spotted by witnesses smashed in the roadway was flung from the Toyota during the crash, according to police.
Original article (Monday, Dec. 19, 2022):
In what anyone who witnessed the scene would surely call a miraculous outcome, the collision that closed down Gardiners Road yesterday for several hours only saw one person taken to hospital, and with minor injuries.
Just after 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, a collision involving two vehicles occurred on Gardiners Road near the intersection with Development Drive. According to police on scene at the time, one of the vehicles involved – a truck equipped with a snow plow – was involved in the collision, however it was the other vehicle that ended up upside down in the middle of the busy roadway at the height of the holiday shopping season.
Police on scene indicated that the vehicle – a four-door Toyota, silver in colour – drove through a red light travelling southbound on Gardiners Road and through the Development Drive intersection. There, the Toyota clipped the slow plow blade on the pickup truck. While it is unclear why, the Toyota then travelled up the embankment next to Raxx Bar and Grill, came back down that embankment, and then crashed through the safety railing on Gardiners Road alongside the sidewalk on the west side of the road. The vehicle rolled over, as a result, coming to a stop upside down in the roadway.
The driver of the vehicle, who was the only occupant of the Toyota, was trapped inside as a result of the rollover. Within minutes, Kingston Fire and Rescue, Frontenac Paramedics, and Kingston Police were on scene, where firefighters worked in cooperation with paramedics to safely extract the driver from the crumpled vehicle.
“Once the vehicle was stabilized, the individual was extricated and handed over to paramedics,” Kingston Fire and Rescue said in a statement to Kingstonist. The firefighters then remained on scene to help with clean-up efforts, before leaving the scene in the hands of Kingston Police.
Meanwhile, Frontenac Paramedics worked to ensure the driver was stable, utilizing a neck brace to ensure minimal movement of the patient’s neck. After the driver was quickly assessed on-scene, they were transported to Kingston General Hospital by paramedics with “minor injuries,” Frontenac Paramedics confirmed on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, in response to Kingstonist inquiries.
The roadway was immediately closed off to traffic, and remained closed until just before 5 p.m., however, Kingston Police indicated that a report on the collision had not been filed as of the morning of Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. As such, police were unable to disclose any details of the incident, including the extent of any injuries, the number of people involved, the cause of the collision, or whether any charges were laid.
“The report likely has not been submitted by the officer [in charge],” Const. Anthony Colangeli, Acting Media Relations Officer for Kingston Police said.
When asked whether he might be able to provide more information later in the day on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, Colangeli indicated that police have 30 days in which to file motor vehicle collision incident reports, and that it might be some time before information on the incident would become available, but noted that it didn’t “look like [there were] any charges.”
Kingstonist will provide updated coverage if/when more information becomes available on this incident.