Mother and son plunge to deaths on 401

Police probe reports boy tossed from overpass

The Toronto Star, ( Canada's largest daily newspaper ), HENRY STANCU, STAFF REPORTER, Dec. 4, 2006.

Toronto police are investigating reports that a mother threw her young son from an overpass over busy Highway 401 near the Toronto Zoo last night and then jumped after him, killing them both.

Shocked police officers found the bodies of the boy, about 3, and his mother in the westbound collector lanes under the Morningside Ave. bridge at about 7:15 p.m.

Ontario Provincial Police Const. Dave Woodford, one of the first investigators on the scene, was stunned by the horrific incident, which is being treated by police as a murder-suicide.

"When there's children involved in any kind of thing it's just horrific," Woodford said as he stood near the accident scene on Highway 401.

"I've seen some very horrific things in my career, but I don't know about something like this with a child." Police last night were unable to identify the woman, who carried no identification.

"We don't know who she is, but we're desperately trying to identify her and the child," said one investigator as he headed back to the scene after interviewing witnesses at Scarborough's 42 Division.

Initial reports, the officer said, indicated the woman arrived near the scene in a TTC bus, and then walked with the child to the overpass.

Nathan Foster, a tool-and-die maker who stopped near the scene, couldn't believe what happened.

"I'm totally shocked," said Foster, 29. "I couldn't believe it was true when I heard this happened."

Investigators said traffic came to a standstill after several vehicles struck the mother, who was pronounced dead at the scene as paramedics desperately worked in a futile attempt to save the life of the boy. The youngster was pronounced dead on the way to hospital.

OPP officers closed off the westbound collector lanes as Toronto police investigators began to examine the scene and questioning witnesses.

The woman's body lay on the pavement for some time, awaiting the arrival of a coroner, the standard procedure when a victim of an accident or crime is found deceased at the scene.

The flashing lights of emergency vehicles attracted numerous people who were driving by the area; word spread quickly that the woman may have thrown her child from the bridge before leaping to her death.

Toronto police were questioning a man who may have been her husband.

Several witnesses were taken by Toronto Police to 42 division station in Scarborough.

It is not known how the mother and child arrived at the overpass. The area is some distance from residential neighbourhoods, the closest about one kilometre south, while on the north side of Highway 401 are big-box centres, fast food restaurants and gas stations.

In March, 2005, a 5-year-old Toronto girl miraculously survived after she was thrown from a Don Mills bridge onto Highway 401 by her father, who also jumped. Inara Amarsi was hurled off the overpass first and then her father, Alnoor Amarsi, climbed over the railing and plunged about 20 metres to his death. The little girl made a full recovery.

With files from Betsy Powell