BMW driver killed in fiery crash in Scarborough

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For the second time this week, a motorist has been killed in a horrific fiery crash in the city.

On Friday morning, two sections of what was left of a black two-door BMW were loaded onto two Toronto Police flatbed tow trucks – the rear section of the vehicle was covered over by a large orange tarp and netting.

Toronto Police said in a statement that the vehicle – which smashed into a hydro pole on the north side of Eglinton Ave. E. just east of Brimley Rd. shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Friday – was travelling “at a high rate of speed, disobeyed the red light for westbound traffic at Danforth Rd. and proceeded westbound through the intersection.”

A witness at the scene, Alex Leatham, said he was at a plaza on the south side of Eglinton getting late-night food when “all of a sudden the lights just shut off.”

“I looked down there and saw the blaze and the smoke,” said Leatham, who ran to the crash scene to record video.

“The engine was separated from the car and the car was wrapped up (around the pole),” he  said. “My friend tried to open the door to see if he could take him out.”

“But it was too late. He was wrapped up inside the car,” he added.

Leatham said he felt sorry for the person in the car, their family and loved ones.

The impact left the concrete hydro pole bent into an L shape at its base and badly charred from fire. Hydro crews were at the scene replacing the destroyed pole with a new one on Friday.

Leatham said it looked like the BMW went through two sets of lights that were red as it drove west along Eglinton Ave. E. – the first red light being at Danforth Rd. and the second at Brimley Rd.

The BMW also struck a red car driven by a woman in the intersection at Brimley, he said.

“When he hit the lady on the side, he lost control,” Leatham said.

Police also verified what Leatham had seen with information in their news release about the crash.

“The BMW continued westbound on Eglinton Ave. E. and clipped a vehicle stopped at the red light at Brimley Rd.,” the release states. “The BMW disobeyed the red light at Brimley Rd. and proceeded westbound through the intersection.”

The victim’s name was not immediately released.

On Wednesday, shortly before 9 p.m., police and firefighters attended a scene where a 24-year-old man died after the black Hyundai Veloster he was driving left the roadway on Lake Shore Blvd. W. near Colborne Lodge Dr., smashed into a hydro pole and exploded in flames.

Toronto Fire Platoon Chief Tony Wallace told CTV Toronto that after quickly extinguishing the fire in an effort to save the man’s life, it then took them about 40 minutes to extricate the victim from his car and transport him to hospital.

“We used just about every piece of equipment we had in the toolbox for this one … this was pretty horrific,” Wallace said. “I just started my 37th year and this is probably one of the worst (crashes) I’ve seen …”

The driver was trapped inside the car underneath the fallen hydro pole.