Man Killed While Changing Tire At Side Of 401
Posted June 20, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CityNews has learned that a man who died Wednesday after being struck by a car while changing a tire on the side of Highway 401 turned down the help of a tow-truck driver minutes before he was killed.
The victim was a 52-year-old Mississauga man, who has yet to be identified.
“He had a flat tire. I asked if he wanted help, he said he was okay, he would he fix it himself,” recalls Thusi Mylbagna.
The tragic incident took place at around 4pm, and police immediately closed the Dixon ramps that access the highway. Three of the five lanes were closed to traffic, but have since been reopened.
The force of the crash sent the victim flying almost 50 feet. An O.P.P. officer and a citizen administered C.P.R. for ten minutes but were unsuccessful in their efforts to revive the man.
Peter Ntanas was the first to discover the gravely injured victim.
“I tried. Unfortunately, you can’t win ’em all sometimes,” he said, holding back tears.
“There was a very faint pulse. It wasn’t looking very promising.”
Sgt. Cam Woolley stressed the importance of staying in your vehicle should a problem arise.
“He was actually parked on the shoulder, almost a metre from the edge of traffic. It’s the busiest highway in North America here. It’s one of the safest as long as you’re in a moving vehicle,” Woolley said. “We highly recommend to people, if they have problems with their car, either drive it to a safe location if it will move or call a tow truck.”
“It just takes a very little bit for another vehicle to move out of the lane of traffic. We don’t know why that other vehicle did yet. That is under investigation and we’re hoping to hear more from witnesses as the evening goes along. But the man was kneeling at the edge of his car and he was struck. He was pronounced dead on scene by the coroner.”
