Street racing leads to two-vehicle crash on Portage: Winnipeg police

Two Winnipeg drivers are facing charges after an alleged street race Sunday evening ended with a multi-car crash on Portage Avenue that left two people injured.

Officers were called to a multi-vehicle crash just after 8 p.m. at Portage Avenue and Sturgeon Road. Two people in one vehicle were taken to hospital in critical and unstable condition, while one person in the other vehicle was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Police said everyone has since been updated to stable.

During the investigation, police learned two vehicles – a white Honda Civic and a black Volkswagen GTI – were racing westbound on Portage Avenue as they approached Sturgeon.

At that time, a blue Honda travelling eastbound turned north onto Sturgeon and was hit by the white Honda Civic.

"It's safe to say that these individuals were driving at a fairly high rate of speed when that impact occurred," said Const. Jason Michalyshen, a public information officer with the Winnipeg Police Service. 

Images from the scene show two cars with severe damage, including this black vehicle.

The drivers in the two racing vehicles have been charged under the Highway Traffic Act with racing another vehicle and driving carelessly. Police have seized and impounded both vehicles.

Michalyshen said the crash happened on Sunday Cruise Night – an event that happens throughout the city seeing car enthusiasts gather together and cruise.

"The vast majority are there for the right reasons. They are there because they just want to go out for a nice Sunday drive in their vehicle. They have a passion for vehicles," he said, adding police are on board with that.

"For some reason, again, there's that small percentage that are making those really, really poor choices to drive their vehicle in an unsafe way at high speeds, and again, putting everyone at risk." 

A badly damaged car at the scene of the crash.

Michalyshen said in this case the charges were under the Highway Traffic Act, but he said street racing can easily lead to criminal charges.

"There could be charges under the Criminal Code, where there's potentially life-altering injuries, or we talk about fatalities," he said. "This could have serious ramifications on your future on many, many levels. So we just encourage members of the public to really think twice about how they're operating their vehicles."

The Winnipeg Police Service is asking people to slow down on the roads, noting after the crash, officers stayed in the area and one vehicle was stopped on Moray Street going 127 km/h in an 80 km/h zone.