Chasing Danger: A Nightmare on Highway 401

#024 - A dive into a shocking incident involving a runner in Ontario who drove the wrong way on Highway 401, leading to a tragic collision and several deaths. We discuss the dangerous police chase, the criminal charges against the suspect, and personal reflections on the incident. Additionally, the conversation shifts to the importance of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings on cruise ships, upcoming travel plans, and various community programs focused on sobriety and wellness in Thunder Bay. Join us for an intense and insightful discussion about safety, addiction recovery, and community support.

Transcript

Little tree. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So there was this drunk driver that in Ontario, I believe it was in Toronto, and he just started driving like the opposite direction a few weeks back, maybe even longer. And apparently he was out on parole.  And then  he started driving on a major highway, opposite direction, weaving in and, side to side from cars trying to avoid them.

God, that is so wild and so crazily dangerous. And what's even more wild is like the police actually chased him as well. So I guess that was questionable too. I know they're after someone that's potentially a felon or whatever. But that, you're putting a lot of other folks at risk too by, by carrying on a chase.

You're not kidding. But maybe there's a reason for it. 

Cause I don't, we don't know the full side of the story. So here we got a guy in his car driving the wrong way on a major highway in Southern Ontario. And we got the cops chasing him. 100%. Wow.  

What a nightmare. And the horrific part is that. 

There was, I don't know if it was a direct hit by a vehicle, it could have been  the individual running away, or it could have been, authority related, but there were people that had to swerve out of the way, I would imagine. And there were some debts involved as well.

Man, that's so tragic. And not surprising though, those highways are super busy in Southern Ontario, especially the major 400 series highways. I can't even imagine how that would have looked like a guy driving the wrong direction with like cops chasing them in the wrong direction with oncoming traffic.

That is so crazy. 

It is, man. I actually have the article here and I'm laughing because I just had a look at the gentleman's name, so passenger involved in fatal 401 crash faces robbery charges. Manpreet Gill. So he has the exact same last name as me. Wow. We're not related. One of your family members there is here.

Of course, right? Yeah, it runs in the family. Holy. I had to look and I'm like, you know what? That could have been me. Yeah. Back in the day. No doubt. Holy. Cause when I was young younger and still using, I do remember trying to take a small bottle from the liquor store. I didn't get very far. No. It was to say the night ended by me being driven home by the RCMP.

Did you take a little beating from security beforehand or? I got tackled. Yeah, man. Yeah. And when you got, it doesn't matter how big you are, but when you got five guys on top of you, you're not going anywhere. Jeez. Yeah. 

Yeah, but Thankfully, you didn't grab a car and drive in the opposite direction on a major highway, but 

that never happened.

Yeah. Wow so it says the passenger who was riding in a cargo van Involved in a deadly wrong way crash on Highway 401 east of Toronto last month was been charged in connection with a robbery linked to the incident, according to court documents. Newly obtained Oshawa court records show a man pre kill is facing 12 criminal charges stemming from the day of the crash, including one count of allegedly  robbing an LCBO.

a liquor store. He has not been charged in relation to the collision, which killed four people, including an infant and came after a high speed police chase through Durham region, man, that is so crazy. Yeah. And it says Gil 38. So he's also the same, almost the same age as me. Yeah. Not related was previously identified as the sole passenger in the U Haul van that crashed on Highway 401 in Whitby, Ontario on April 29th, following a reported LCBO robbery in Bowenville  in the Regional Municipality of Greenville.

Clarington. The vehicle seen weaving through traffic in the opposite direction while pursued by at least 20 police vehicles on either side of the highway. Can you imagine? That's insane. That's 

insane. And like myself being from Southern Ontario, Izzy, like I've driven that stretch of the 401 many times.

Like I can't even imagine and like a lot of times when you're cruising the 401 like that, like you're just zoned out. Cause like there, it's a split highway going in two directions. So like when you're cruising on one side of the highway, say you're, you're headed westbound there like it sounds like the traffic was like you're, the last thing you're expecting is somebody to be coming towards you.

Because it's a split highway, I can't even imagine how that must have gone down. And I mean like that's. That's one of the busiest, if not the busiest highway in the world, and especially right there. That's just right, right outside of Toronto. I can't even imagine how that must've looked and gone down and what people must've experienced there.

Holy shit. Yeah. And if I saw that, like with my eyes, I would've been like, damn, OG is back. No doubt. No doubt. Like you brought this up. I can't believe I didn't hear about this. I'm not really paying attention to the news lately cause I've been so preoccupied, but that's wild that happened.

I can't even believe that. Luckily.  Sadly for the family that that that perished, but luckily there weren't way more injuries or deaths because that, that is such a busy stretch of highway.

A hundred percent, and like even the accused I can't imagine what's going through someone's mind, right?

Like you're out, maybe it says here Yeah, so apparently, this gentleman could have been known to the authorities as well. So who knows? Like it could have been like the guys, like maybe he wasn't supposed to be driving. I don't know these details and when you have that kind of fear under you.

Or who knows, maybe you're already rocked. Like you're on something, and you're just, you're, you think you're super bad, you think maybe you're Tom Cruise in a video, or maybe you want to reenact the OJ scene, I don't know. 

Yeah. 

But it's, it doesn't end pretty. No kidding. People have died, this guy, the driver's still alive, so it's not, it's probably not looking good.

Did 

he 

end 

up 

crashing that that van, does it say there in the article or was he eventually he just ended up pulling over, or how did that come to a conclusion? Is there any info on that? 

Yeah, it says Gil played a role in the cascade of events leading up to the crash. A Durham police officer spokesperson declined the comment on the charges citing the ongoing special investigations unit.

So according to this, it doesn't say directly, but they do say there was a crash, but it could have been, him. It could have been, it could have been another vehicle that I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just ludicrous.  

Yeah. That's why. Absolutely. Wild. Wow. And actually I just changing gears a little bit while we're having just some casual conversation here.

I know you're you're going to travel you've been traveling a lot lately, but soon you're going to be you're going to be traveling to Europe and you were telling me that you're going on a cruise starting in Iceland, which is super cool, but something you mentioned that I thought was really interesting that I didn't realize, but it makes perfect sense is that that there are AA meetings on that cruise ship.

Yeah it's interesting that you brought that up. I went on one cruise back in 2012 and I used to drink back then and I went with my uncle. He is big on cruises. Him and his family love seeing parts of the world by cruising,  you're in the floating city and you got all the resources.

You sleep and eat on the ship, but you get to see parts of the world. But with that, there's also a nightclub on a cruise ship. There's bars galore, there's casinos, any, so it's an excuse To be social and drink, it's readily available and you get out on into these countries and there's breweries and there's booze all around.

They usually revolve around booze. Yeah. Not always. I'm sure there's like couples are, older  demographics on cruises as well, but. I'm not saying that they don't drink or anything, but I noticed when on the itinerary back in 2012. I remember pointing out to my uncle. I'm like, hey What does the a stand for in a circle there?

And he's like he looked at it too He's like i'm not sure because it was on the itinerary and he was there was an hour block In a designated area on the ship once a day, I remember, and I'm like, I don't know, but I was completely oblivious to AA Alcoholics Anonymous back then, I was still drinking, and but now that I think about it, I went back and looked into it they do have AA meetings on these ships.

It just makes so much sense 

I, I never really considered it or thought of it, so when you mentioned that, I was a little bit taken back. More surprised than anything else, but now that I'm thinking it through, like it makes perfect sense. Cause like you said, there are so many temptations on a cruise ship like that.

And you may be separated from your from your sober people and and your your mentors on your healing journey. To have that makes a lot of sense. And then on top of that, like not only are there bars and nightclubs, everyone's on vacation.

So everyone's in party mode too on, on a big cruise ship like that. So I think that's really awesome that they have resources like that. So you were saying that you've you've got the your wifi paid for on the cruise there and maybe you and I are going to connect a little bit remotely to, to record a podcast and you're going to start to talk a little bit about that.

a remote floating AA meeting and and how it works and maybe even talk to some people about what their thoughts are about having that AA meeting on that boat. I think that'd be a really cool cool topic to talk about on one of our podcasts upcoming. 

Absolutely. And this cruise in particular, we're going, we're flying from Toronto to Iceland.

We do, it's a 10 night cruise. We cruise around Iceland multiple stops, and then we go on to Norway, northern part of Norway in the Arctic region and so I can, I can only imagine people are from all over the world, and they have, some might have alcohol. Addiction or issues in their family.

Some might've gone through it themselves. And the beauty of these floating cities, wherever there's like healing groups of any nature is that you get to hear stories from all over the world. Exactly. Exactly. And that's the beauty of it. And communities are powerful things. So when we have our own community on a, let's say a floating city, it can carry us to the next day.

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

 And I think what. People tend to forget is that wherever there is a strong using and drinking community, there's a gorgeously beautiful, strong, like healing or recovery community. 

It's that yin and yang. And that's amazing. So yin and yang. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I think it's really cool.

He said about people from all over the world on these cruises, and it just goes to show that, alcohol and addiction is not a localized problem. Alcohol is available worldwide and people struggle. All over the world with alcohol addictions and addictions to drugs.

Again, I just think it's really cool that that there is access to those resources on a major cruise ship like that, to give people that that safety net that they might need. 

And I'm looking forward to just feeling these out and seeing what they're like. How do they differ from our meetings here on the land, in Ontario. Every meeting is different, even if you're in the City of Toronto, let's say. Slightly different the way it's structured, the delivery, the messaging at the end. And you're right. So I do have a wifi on the ship for all 10 days and  we've already had, we've made plans to connect and do some recording cause I'd love to tell you all about it.

Yeah. I'm excited to hear about it for sure. I think that's going to be great. Really looking forward to hearing from you while you're on vacation there and we'll keep popping out these these episodes of the podcast for sure. A hundred 

percent. Yeah. I wanted to ask you about what's been going on with you the last three weeks, like what's new and exciting.

I haven't been in this space for three weeks. I had a family wedding in Toronto,  but I'm back. I'm alive. I'm well. And I'm just I've seen some of your social media posts. There's a lot going on in this space. There's a lot going on in outside. You took an adventure recently as well. 

Yeah, a little mini vacation myself there.

It wasn't really a vacation. I was still working, even though I took a little bit of a breather, but I had an out of town visitor come up and visit me from southern Ontario and give me an excuse to get away from work for at least a few hours a day and show her around Thunder Bay. She's an outdoors person as well, and it really was fun to be able to show her all the amazing wilderness and things that Thunder Bay has to offer that way.

So that was pretty good. As far as Howl at the Moon goes, a couple new things going on. All the same old is happening, which I'm really grateful for. But a couple of new things too. I think last time we talked about Howl at the Moon, we mentioned the Stepping Stones program, which is run by the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre.

And we've now run one full cycle of Stepping Stones, which is fantastic. It's that program there that sort of gives people something to do while they're waiting to get into a residential treatment program because a lot of times there can be those really long waits to get into a residential treatment program.

So Stepping Stones and the Friendship Center offer some programming out of Health and Moon Space. Just relapse prevention teachings encouragement Access to resources, maybe some direction and referrals. And that's a six week program that that's been happening here at Health at the Moon.

And we just completed the first cycle. We're ready to launch the second cycle. And I'm really grateful for the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre for choosing to run that program out of this space here. Something else too we've got another agency that's come on board to offer some resources out of this space.

Just more and more things happening out of the health and in space with regards to healing and sobriety and healthy living. Kanachihi, which is an agency here in town that runs treatment programs and has resources for people in recovery, is going to be coming here on Monday nights for two hours with some of their staff to, to offer resources that they have out of the health and then space, which is quite a bit more centrally located to their main location. 

And I'm really excited about working with them too, and having them bring their resources to help the moon. So

I love hearing about different projects that take place in the space. It just reminds me how far your structure here as calm. Sometimes there feels, it seems like there might not be Poll or interest.

But then all of a sudden the next week it's completely different, and it's, I like hearing that you have structured events throughout the weeks. It's amazing, 

like it really has come a long way and we've got obviously live entertainment which everybody knows about, but we've also got culture and we've got access to those resources and it's a whole bunch of agencies and community members pulling together to offer different things out of this space.

So there's a real partnership. basket of really good, positive programming that happens out of this space. And they're all a little bit different, because not everything works for everybody. So we've got all these different things happening out of this space. And as I always say, people can check out our Facebook page, Health Moon Thunder Bay, and they can always see what's upcoming because I do post there every single day and people can keep track of what's going on.

Something else too, I know we've talked about that women's group, but man, has it ever gotten super popular? That runs every second Monday night there. And it's a, our group, grassroots group run by women for women. And we've been getting a really amazing turnout and the feedback for that women's group has been really great.

Just women, healthy women supporting. and helping growth in, in other women. And it seems there's a real demand for that and that program has really taken off too. Just like I said, a whole bunch of different things happening under one roof, all related to wellness, all related to sobriety.

And just really grateful for that. 

Amazing. The Mondays is when I see you, I'll see photos of you on the social media, right out in town. Yeah, because I typically,  

I've been taken. I've been taking Mondays off and leaving the room just to the women, which is great. There's some amazing women who have stepped up to take the lead on that night.

And I think it's better for me not to be here and it's just great. And I trust those women with help the moon and with the space and with the program that they're doing here. And yeah, I just walk away on Monday nights and let them have at it and they've been doing a great job and the feedback has just been so good. 

Music to my 

ears. You got it. I feel like I haven't been here in three weeks. I had already said that, but you got construction outside your door. What's going on with that, man? I 

don't really know exactly, but they've got the whole downtown Port Arthur core just ripped up. Yeah. Anybody who's been down here recently can see yeah, like it's torn up right in front of in front of my shop here and you can still access it by vehicle.

So there's like a private health and then parking lot up front. There is a road. Is this sort of like the  park there? Yeah. Yeah. You can get like valet parking outside of health and then right now. But man, it's hard to navigate through here. And yeah, it's really taking a bit of a toll on businesses in general down here.

I think, even foot traffic, like it's just it's like a ghost town out there. So I'm not sure what the timeline is on them having this all ripped up, but I'm hoping that they're able to patch it up soon and move on. I think my understanding was that they were starting at the base of red river road here, right by the lake.

And they're going to be moving up red river roads. So I'm hoping that maybe This part of the project is only going to be a couple of weeks and they're going to carry on up red river road, but I'm really looking forward to them patching it up and getting some people back down here for sure. 

Yeah, it's nice to know that the city is doing like some cosmetics on the city.

Do you know what I mean? It's going to look great when it's done, yeah. Just letting the listeners know too, though, that the walkability is still good down here. Absolutely. Like it. is misleading because I've looked at it today down Red River. I'm like, ah, can I walk down there? But it's all accessible around the corner and 

still get in here by foot.

And there's still tons of parking down here too, right? So you might have to park a block away from health and then if you're coming down,  but you can still access us pretty easily. You just have to walk in. There's always lots of parking at the park aid. There's street parking around the corner from here, so don't be discouraged about the about the road closures down here, guys, come on down and enjoy the space.

I certainly appreciate the support for sure, and not only do I appreciate it we need it, it's it's important to, the support really helps me to keep the doors open here. 



For sure. Jody. Anything else you want to add before we close down this conversation? No, it was a great conversation, Izzy. 

I hope 

you 

have a great trip there. Thank you. I I've been missing you because you've been in and out of town. You've been traveling all over the place lately, but it's great to sit down with you today.

And I look forward to doing that that remote recording and we'll hear about what's going on in that cruise ship and give us a little insight about how things look on that ship and over in Europe. Amazing. 

Jody, always a pleasure sitting down with you on a Sunday. 

Likewise, man.

Really enjoyed it. You have a great day. You too. Bye now. Thanks, man. 

Bye everyone.