UPDATE: Two Saskatoon teenagers killed, one seriously hurt in car crash

“The officer was following the vehicle for about five or six blocks, radioed in and found out the vehicle was stolen… He thought it was best as soon as the the vehicle turned on to Avenue M to activate his emergency equipment,” explained Police Chief Clive Weighill.

“As soon as he did that… that vehicle immediately sped off on a high rate of speed.”

Weighill said that he has watched the video of the incident which is around 17 seconds long and it showed the officer slowing down immediately but he didn’t know the exact speed of either vehicle.

The stolen truck then drove into the intersection of Avenue M and 22nd Street where it collided into two other vehicles, pushing one into the front of Harder’s Family Wellness Centre. The vehicle, which contained three teenagers, was embedded roof-first in the front of the business.

Two teenagers were killed; a 17-year-old female and a 17-year-old-male. The other person in the car, a 16-year-old female, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Weighill called the accident “senseless and meaningless” adding that the officer responded immediately.

“The officer, through all this, got out of his police vehicle and when he did get to the scene took complete control. He did an excellent job on scene last night,” Weighill said.

“It was a horrific scene and I know some of our officers will be getting some critical incident stress debriefing on this.”

Weighill also added that anytime there is a death or serious injury where there is police activity the Department of Justice is called for oversight.

The suspects, a 17-year-old girl passenger and a 21-year-old woman who was driving, were also taken to hospital and then released into police custody.

Weighill said that both accused were repeat offenders.

“Both people in that vehicle have been charged by our police service for stolen vehicles. They’ve both been charged with breaches of their conditions. And one had already been charged with fail to remain in the past,” he said, adding that has caused some frustration.

“You see somebody stealing a car, you arrest them and you bring them in. Two days later they are back on the street and we are arresting them again.”

Weighill said that the accused will be in front of a Justice of the Peace on Tuesday night and that police are still working through the charges which he said will include impaired driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death. Weighill added that it is up to the prosecution to decide if the 17-year-old will be raised to adult court.

Vehicle theft a growing problem in Saskatoon

The fatal accident involving a stolen truck has highlighted a problem with vehicle theft.

“It’s a shame that a tragedy like this has to happen before people awake to the problem that we are having here in Saskatoon,” explained Weighill.

“We saw a six per cent rise in stolen vehicles last year, already this year we are up 28 per cent in stolen vehicles.”

Weighill explained that people in the city are not listening to their message about how to avoid vehicle theft. He said that 70 per cent of vehicles stolen in the city have keys in or near the vehicle. There have been 39 arrests since April 1 from youth stealing cars.

“We’ve repeatedly asked people to not leave keys in their cars… It’s a frustration level high in our service right now, I can tell you that,” he said.

“Help your police service. We can’t do this on our own.”

kmalone@rawlco.com

Follow on Twitter: @KellyGerMalone

by paNOW

UPDATE: Two Saskatoon teenagers killed, one seriously hurt in car crash

paNOW Staff

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