Man arrested in St. Mary’s Road crash was driving nearly 215 km/h, police say

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This article was published 26/03/2025 (226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused of being behind the wheel of car travelling more than 200 kilometres an hour seconds before slamming into a business on St. Mary’s Road last fall has been arrested for dangerous driving.

The Winnipeg Police Service said the fact no one was injured in the high-speed crash was “miraculous,” while announcing the arrest of the suspected driver Wednesday.

“It’s absolutely incredible that not only these two — the driver and his passenger — didn’t suffer any kind of injury, but more importantly, that no bystander or another motorist was harmed here,” police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said.

“I’m shocked that somebody walked away from this. It’s incredible.”

Police said a 2009 Dodge Charger SRT8 was driving 213 km/h in a 60 km/h zone moments before it slammed into Midland Appliance World, just north of Vivian Avenue, around 2 a.m. on Oct. 15.

Collision investigators determined the car was doing 158 km/h upon impact. The two occupants of the vehicle fled the scene.

Winnipeg police traffic division Sgt. Paul Deacon said it was surprising no one was hurt.

“The fact that no one suffered any catastrophic injuries from this was astounding and it was by luck, it was nothing to do with the driver or the equipment — it was just sheer luck of the draw that both parties survived,” Deacon told the Free Press.

Deacon added that he personally worked on the investigation into a fatal collision at the same intersection in 2022, in which a passenger was killed when a vehicle slammed into a hydro pole, which occurred at a lower speed.

Investigators identified the man they believe was the driver and arrested him without incident at his home on Monday. The 21-year-old was released on an appearance notice.

Video surveillance footage from another area business, EyeSee Computers and Security Cameras, showed the vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed northbound on St. Mary’s Road.

The vehicle missed the turn around a curve, struck a guardrail, a hydro pole and, finally, Midland Appliance World before coming to a rest. The car, overturned and demolished, ended up in the nearby Minute Muffler Auto Service Centre, close to a bus stop.

The appliance store still had plywood over part of its facade Wednesday.

“That was the craziest part to me, how no one got hurt — when I got here in the morning, it was like a war zone, there was caution tape everywhere and debris,” said Minute Muffler owner Max Traa. “It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Collisions are frequent on the stretch of northbound St. Mary’s near the muffler shop, he said, adding the stop sign at the corner of Morier Avenue and St. Mary’s next to his shop has had to be replaced two or three times due to collisions since October alone.

“It seems to happen very frequently at that corner, people lose control or they’re driving too fast for the conditions,” said Traa.

The owner of EyeSee Computers and Security Cameras, Don Cairns, would like to see increased signage leading up to the curve indicating the speed limit and warning motorists to slow down.

He was still in his shop working at the time of the collision and heard the engine roar and a bang, before he called 911.

“I thought, ‘No way he would have survived,’” said Cairns, adding he hopes the driver gets a stiff jail sentence.

“You got to teach somebody a lesson so all the other kids will then think about it,” he said.

Chancy said that because the section of St. Mary’s leading to the curve is straight and flat, it’s easy to attain high speeds without maneuvering the car.

“But the knowledge base of these drivers, besides the bad decision of speed and driving recklessly, they don’t have the knowledge to be able to control vehicles no matter what kind of power they have, and control vehicles in the way they have to to navigate a corner like this one at that high speed,” he said.

“It’s not a hard corner to navigate under normal circumstances. But you’re not going to handle any corner at that speed, no matter what kind of expertise you have.”

Chancy said the car involved was powerful enough to attain the speeds it did with relative ease. The Charger SRT8 is rated at 425 horsepower and a 265 km/h top speed.

While the speed limit at the curve is 60 km/h, caution signs recommend a maximum speed of 40 km/h.

The city’s budget set aside $495,000 in 2025 to study potential traffic flow improvements on St. Mary’s. That study has yet to begin, city public works spokeswoman Julie Dooley said Wednesday, but will include the curve north of Vivian Avenue.

“We haven’t finalized the scope, but the primary goal of the project is to explore options for increasing vehicle capacity,” said Dooley. “That said, we do expect to do a road safety audit as part of the study.”

St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes said the stretch of St. Mary’s must be examined, given the October collision and a fatal crash in 2022.

“It’s unimaginable,” said Mayes of the collision’s high speeds. “There’s a need for a review of what’s going on (at that corner.)”

In October 2022, David Bunguke, 17, died after the car he was a passenger in crashed into a utility pole on St. Mary’s near Guay Avenue.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca