Family Launches Two Million Dollar Negligence Lawsuit Against TTC and Toronto Police

TORONTO, May 23, 2012 /CNW/ - Alex Gillespie was struck and killed by a speeding TTC bus on August 20, 2010, on Lakeshore Blvd. East.  Police on horseback were dispersing thousands of young people attending a Beach music event taking place immediately adjacent to the Lakeshore. 

At a news conference near the scene of the accident, Alex's parents will release documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.  The documents show the TTC was negligent, and include evidence of the following:

• A GPS recorder on the fully loaded bus reveals the driver was exceeding the speed limit, travelling at more than 57 km/h as young people were leaving the event, running across and even standing in the middle of the road.  In the words of a TTC official, the driver was "speeding excessively for the conditions" and violating TTC policy by driving in the passing lane;
• There were repeated calls from the bus drivers on the route throughout the evening asking for more buses and TTC personnel to help ensure safety as the number of young people arriving in the area grew to "thousands." These calls for assistance were ignored;
• The failure to respond to the drivers was due to insufficient and improperly trained staff at the TTC Central Command.

The family also alleges the Toronto Police Service was negligent:

• A day prior to the event, senior members of the police service began assembling a squad of 38 officers on horseback, bicycles and ATVs, and in squad cars and on foot, to police the event and then disperse the young people from the park. This plan did not include safe exit for the young people, or traffic control;
• Police did not alert the TTC to the event;
• Calls to the police that night in advance of Alex being struck, warned police about the young people running across the busy Lakeshore. One caller pleaded for traffic police to take control of the situation, fearful that "someone is going to get hurt". Traffic police did not take any steps to control the road until after Alex was tragically killed;
• Alex's parents are also questioning the quality of the police accident investigation, in that it failed to review the GPS evidence from the bus, failed to review video tape from all of the cameras on the bus, and failed to interview a witness who called the police repeatedly for a chance to convey vital evidence.

The parents, Kathryn Wright and Bill Gillespie, and Alex's brother's and sisters filed a lawsuit against the TTC and the Toronto Police on Tuesday, May 22^nd, 2012.  They will provide the media with copies of the Statement of Claim, Freedom of Information documents and the Police Investigation Report at a news conference, today at 11:00 AM, at the site of the tragedy on Lakeshore Blvd. E. just west of Woodbine.

Kathryn Wright can be reached at 416-627-6684 and Bill Gillespie at 416-570-0003.