Five hurt in crash, drivers might have been racing or chasing each other: RCMP

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This article was published 11/04/2024 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stacey Corden heard the screeching noise from her front yard as two vehicles crashed in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul, behind her home.

After her sons, 9 and 11, rushed from their backyard to tell her they had witnessed the collision, she ran to the scene on Raleigh Street just south of Pritchard Farm Road, and dialed 911, around 8:10 p.m. Wednesday.

“That screeching and the crash noise, it was something I don’t think I’ll get out of my head,” the 38-year-old said.

“From what I heard, there was no way they wouldn’t need help… when I walked up there, I thought ‘everyone’s dead.’”

STARS ambulance in east st. paul crash footage
byu/Worldly_Relief_5191 inWinnipeg

Five people were taken to hospital with serious injuries after two vehicles, which police said might have been “racing or chasing each other,” collided just outside Winnipeg city limits.

Witnesses told Mounties they saw a grey Nissan pickup truck and a grey Dodge Ram 1500 driving erratically on and at very high speeds shortly before the crash.

The driver of the Nissan, a 29-year-old man, and the occupants of the Dodge Ram — men ages 37, 30 and 26; and a 23-year-old woman — were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

“That screeching and the crash noise, it was something I don’t think I’ll get out of my head.”–Stacey Corden

Security video of the collision circulating on social media showed the speeding vehicles roll over multiple times and into a ditch after colliding.

“When I got to the ditch — and it’s kind of a blur, because I felt sick in my stomach — there were two trucks and the fronts of them were completely crumpled in,” said Corden.

One person was on the ground near one of the vehicles, and at first, Corden worried the person was dead, until she saw a hand moving.

“There was smoke coming from the truck that they were beside, this black, nasty smoke,” said Corden.

“There was debris everywhere.”

She was running to a nearby ramp to cross the ditch, near a treed area, where another person was yelling and hitting a man with what she thought was a stick.

Corden later saw the same man yelling at a man and woman who had been in the other vehicle, asking them “Are you happy now, is this what you wanted?” said Corden, adding she later realized he appeared to have been in the collision.

Mounties at one point handcuffed that man, Corden said. No charges had been laid as of Thursday, RCMP said.

She said one person was later taken away on a stretcher, while she saw a STARS air ambulance leave about two hours after the collision.

Corden said police and other responders were in the area until at least midnight.

Blake Robert, a spokesman for the helicopter ambulance service, said STARS was dispatched at about 8:30 p.m. and transported two men, who were in serious condition, to Health Sciences Centre.

Corden said the area around the collision scene, which is near baseball diamonds and a walking path, is frequented by many people.

Mounties said Thursday there were “numerous witnesses,” but are still asking anyone with information about the crash or video of it to contact Selkirk RCMP at 204-482-1222, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or manitobacrimestoppers.com.

RCMP did not respond to questions from the Free Press about the collision on Thursday.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca