(Updated: 1310 hours, June 8, 2021)
Four pedestrians were killed yesterday, June 6, 2021 in London, Ontario when a southbound vehicle struck a group of pedestrians on Hyde Park Road at its intersection with South Carriage Road.
Having just completed an examination of the collision site on Hyde Park Road and South Carriage Street in London, Ontario, we can confirm that the evidence at the site alone cannot determine whether four Muslim pedestrians were purposely killed by a driver who veered into them yesterday.
The photo below shows a view looking south along Hyde Park Road taken this afternoon. In the background is South Carriage Road.
The next photo takes us to the north side of the intersection with South Carriage Road. The striking vehicle veered to the right and struck the pedestrians to the right of the traffic signal located on the south side of the intersection. We would want to examine the road surface in this region to establish whether there are any markings caused by the vehicle as it veered to the right. No such markings were observed.
There were no visible markings until the vehicle struck the curb and tire scrub marks were created on the curb by the two front tires. The photo below shows the general location of the curb where the tire scrub marks existed.
The photo below shows a closer view of the curb where the tire scrub marks were created.
The photo below shows the scrub mark caused by the left front tire.
The photo below shows the scrub mark caused by the right front tire.
Once the vehicle mounted the sidewalk some tire marks became visible on the concrete sidewalk likely from overloading when the vehicle made contact with the pedestrians. One of these overloading marks is shown in the photo below.
After the vehicle struck the pedestrians and passed through the sidewalk it moved onto the grass roadside and travelled almost 60 metres before knocking over a small sign. Some of the tire marks from the vehicle can be seen below just to the right of the sidewalk.
Unfortunately some news crews have the subtilty of a charging bull elephant as they trampled all over the tire marks and other evidence. The photo below, looking north toward the area of impact, is one of many examples where news crews simply set up their equipment over top of the tire marks.
Sometimes the actions of a vehicle such as braking, acceleration or neither, can be established by the character of the grass on which the vehicle travelled. This cannot be done well when persons have trampled through that evidence and destroyed the fragile evidence that might have existed there. The paint marking shown on the asphalt in the next photo were created by the investigating police to document the southward path of the vehicle.
Looking further to the south the photo below shows the small sign that was knocked over about 56 metres south of where the pedestrians were struck.
The photo below shows a view looking north from just south of the struck sign and back toward the area of impact in the background.
Overall, the evidence at the site does not provide any conclusive evidence as to whether this was an intentional act of hate against the Muslim pedestrians. The police may have further evidence such as the data from the vehicle’s event data recorder (“Black Box”) and perhaps other evidence that might lead to the driver’s intentions but what that evidence may be has not been revealed at this time.
Whatever the intentions of the driver, it is a sad result that so many lives were taken.
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