If not for the Windsor Star newspaper there would be no news what-so-ever of the triple “drowning” crash of June 16, 2019 near Leamington, Ontario. In fact not even the Windsor Star could confirm that all three occupants who were trapped in an upside down car in a roadside ditch actually drowned. The Windsor Star reported that “OPP technical collision investigators examined the crash site extensively” yet the Star also reported that “OPP have released few details about the incident”. The only objective information was left to generic photos taken from GoogleMaps and displayed in the Windsor Star article, such as the one below.

The Windsor Star caption accompanying the above photo read ” A June 2014 Google Maps image of the water-filled ditch on the east side of the intersection of Mersea Roads 1 and 19 near Leamington”. A photo from 2014? Thus it appears no one could actually attend the site to get a currrent photo of its present status.

This is an appauling example of the apathy surrounding the deaths of three teenagers from a dangerous roadside condition. Clearly a barrier is warranted at such a location and the OPP investigators or any technical investigators should be aware of that fact. If the teenagers had been killed by a drunk driver there would have been ample publicity by the OPP and news agencies throughout Ontario and beyond, and rightfully so. But clearly the picking and choosing of dangerous factors to publicize for the public’s consumption cannot be the role of police or official news agencies. When it is altered news it is no better than fake news.

The Windsor Star needs to be congratulated in keeping the public from the dark while no other news agency dared to report on this terrible tragedy.