shoppers crash toronto

Another car crashed into the front of a Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto

What is it with drivers smashing their vehicles through commercial storefronts in Ontario? And in particular, into Shoppers Drug Mart?

Cars smashed into locations of the Loblaw-owned retail chain twice within a single week in Toronto last March, again in July at the high-profile intersection of Yonge and Collegein London at the end of 2019, in Tecumseh at the beginning of this year, in Peterborough two months ago and so on and so forth.

It's a thing and people have noticed, hence the great interest in news of an SUV smashing into the front of a Shoppers store on Queen Street East near Carlaw Tuesday morning.

Toronto Police said just after 9:30 a.m. this morning that a vehicle had collided with a pole at Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue. 

Photos from the scene sent to blogTO by a witness show a black SUV smushed up against the front wall of a Shoppers Drug Mart at 970 Queen Street East.

A crumpled Canada Post mailbox can be seen lying nearby and the vehicle appears to have lost its front bumper in the collision.

As a result of the incident, Queen Street was closed from Logan Avenue to Pape Avenue in both directions for about an hour, while the northbound lane of Carlaw was closed from Eastern Avenue to Queen.

Police urged motorists to avoid the area until around 10:30 a.m.

Toronto Police media officer Caroline de Kloet confirmed that police were called to the Queen and Carlaw area for a collision at 9:23 a.m. Tuesday morning.

"It is believed the driver may have been suffering from a medical episode," she said, noting that the driver was seen by paramedics and transported to hospital. "The roads were cleared quickly and reopened."

The extent of the driver's injuries are not known, but nobody else was hurt in the crash.

Lead photo by

Jennifer Mitchell


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