WARMINGTON: Motorist who allegedly collided with SUV carrying Doug Ford charged in fatal crash

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Doug Ford quietly reached out to a family who’s patriarch was horrifically killed in a car crash involving a vehicle that was allegedly driven by a man charged earlier this year following a collision with an SUV carrying Ontario’s premier.

The premier was not hurt in the Jan. 8 collision on Hwy. 401 that resulted in an 18-year-old man being charged with dangerous driving.

Just eight months later, the same man — Jaiwin Victor Kirubananthan, of Oshawa — faces new charges in the death of Andrew Cristillo, a father of three daughters, who was killed in a head-on collision on Aug. 3, near Aurora Rd., in the Whitchurch-Stouffville area.

“In that moment, our three little girls, Leah, Chloe, and Ella, and I were also injured and rushed to the hospital,” said Christina Cristillo in a GoFundMe. “My daughters are now being treated at SickKids for life-altering injuries, and our hearts will always carry a void that can never be filled.”

Andrew was a site supervisor at Pro Caissons Ltd. with 17 years experience. The GoFundMe was set up to help the new widow, fighting cancer, with rehabilitation efforts for her daughters who are expected to need many procedures ahead.

Christina added: “Andrew was my best friend and the love of my life — the kind of partner who stood beside me through everything, making me feel loved, supported, and never alone. He was an amazing, hands-on dad to our girls, always playing with them, teaching them, and making them laugh until their cheeks hurt. Andrew had a wicked sense of humour and a way of lighting up every room he walked into — the life of the party, the friend everyone wanted by their side, the one who could make you smile even on your worst day.”

The accused has not had his charges tested in court in either this current crash or the one involving the premier.

In the most recent incident, Kirubananthan has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, failing to remain at the scene of an accident resulting in death, and public mischief.

The premier has been advised to not speak publicly to ensure the accused receives fair justice.

But sources told the Toronto Sun the father of daughters is both devastated and outraged .

Ford, sources told me, spoke with the surviving mother Monday in what was said to be an emotional encounter.

“He is very upset, ” said a source.

Many in the province are upset.

“This is not acceptable,” said Dave Kirkwood, a survivor of a drunk driver’s actions who still suffers from major lingering injuries. (Kirubananthan is not facing DUI charges).

“These cases should be the last ones,”said Kirkwood. “My heart goes out for this family. There should be zero tolerance for this.”

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While Ford and many others want to help this family — one person donated $10,000 to the total which now exceeds $305,000 — there also needs to be a pledge to incarcerate those, like Kirubananthan, facing serious driving crimes while they await trial and to throw the book at repeat offenders.

Call it Andrew’s Law if you like, but get it done.

Said Christina: Andrew’s “greatest wish was for his family to be safe, happy, and cared for, and he worked tirelessly to give our daughters the best life and future he possibly could.”

But it will now have to be others who help fulfill that goal. His life has been stolen from him. Christina calls her family’s future “uncertain” since she has been “fighting breast cancer for the past few years, doing everything I can to be here for my daughters. Now I’m facing the unimaginable: raising them without their dad, while still fighting for my own health.”

This is an infuriating turn of events and terrible tragedy that is made even more repulsive in that the accused was before the courts for a previous crash involving Ontario’s top lawmaker of all people.

Yet, he was not incarcerated, free to allegedly hurt and even kill from behind the wheel.

Stay tuned in this one.

That is going to be one interesting bail hearing. A family, meanwhile, has lost almost everything.