Tips suggest missing semi driver in fatal crash near Altona may be in Toronto area: RCMP

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This article was published 26/11/2024 (367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A grieving Manitoba family is calling an Ontario truck driver on the run from police “a coward” for disappearing after a fatal crash earlier this month that took the lives of a mother and daughter near Altona.

Navjeet Singh, 25, is wanted on charges stemming from the collision that killed 35-year-old Sara Unger and her eight-year-old daughter Alexa on Nov. 15.

“We buried their bodies on Sunday and want justice for them,” Suzy Thiessen, the victims’ sister-in-law and aunt, said Tuesday, adding that the family is ready to put the ordeal behind them.

“He’s a coward for not owning up to this tragedy. He’s shattered our world and changed it forever, and his main concern is self-preservation.”

Manitoba RCMP on Tuesday were looking into tips that Singh, wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, could be in Ontario.

Sgt. Paul Manaigre said the tips came from the Greater Toronto Area and RCMP are following up with local authorities.

Singh, who is from Brampton, Ont., which is in the GTA, has been on the run since he was released from hospital following the incident.

“He’s got information he needs to provide to police,” Manaigre said. “It’s a Canada-wide warrant. At some point, it’s going to come back to you. The best thing to do is turn himself in and seek advice from legal counsel.

“Running from police is not the answer.”

Police allege Singh was behind the wheel of a semi-trailer that blew through a stop sign at an intersection about 13 kilometres west of Altona and struck the Ungers’ SUV.

Singh was taken to hospital following the crash, and officers attempted to interview him, but RCMP said he was too shaken up to provide a statement at the time.

A meeting was scheduled for the following day, but Singh failed to show up.

The friend Singh was staying with after the collision has been co-operating, RCMP said, adding there has been no contact between that individual and Singh since he vanished.

Singh has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and a single count of obstructing a peace officer.

“It’s such a redirection of our attention,” Thiessen told the Free Press last week. “It is so unnecessary. I thought this guy must have felt guilt, must have felt remorse.

“We want to forgive, but now he is evading, and it’s just so hard… to think that he wants forgiveness when he is not taking responsibility.”

RCMP last week defended the decision not to detain him after the crash, suggesting there was no indication he would be a flight risk.

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“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Manaigre said. “When you look at, ‘OK, now he is running,’ well, then of course we should have detained him, but when you can’t get information from the driver at the hospital… we can’t talk to him.”

Manaigre added that it’s not uncommon for officers to give people involved in collisions time to recover from the shock before they provide statements to police.

He also said that arresting Singh at the time could have compromised the case against him later on if it had been rushed.

“We have a system in place where you need your reasonable, probable grounds,” he said. “I would say absolutely, without a doubt, the process won’t change.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.