Mother and 3 daughters killed in Brampton crash identified

A mother and her three daughters killed in a horrific collision Thursday afternoon in Brampton have been identified as Karolina Ciasullo and her children Clara, 6, Liliana, 4, and Mila, 1.

Ciasullo, 37, and her children have been identified via online fundraisers and social media posts.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board said Ciasullo was a Grade 4 teacher at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Elementary School in Brampton. The board extended it condolences to Ciasullo’s husband and family.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is blaming a reckless driver with a suspended licence for the crash.

Brown shared a video on social media late Thursday that allegedly shows the driver, who appears to be unresponsive, lurching through an intersection as onlookers try to intervene.

In the video, the blue Infiniti coupe mounts a sidewalk while a pedestrian attempts to open the car’s door and pull the driver out.

“Turn it off! Turn it off!” people can be heard yelling amid the sound of screeching tires, before the driver reverses and speeds away.

“Community members & police tried to stop the driver. He was having none of it,” Brown wrote on Twitter. “He belongs behind bars for taking 4 innocent lives.”

He goes on to say the driver has a prohibited license due to “multiple” driving offences, and that the car’s license plates did not match the vehicle.

The driver has not been publicly identified by police.

Peel Regional Police are aware of the video but have not confirmed that it will be part of the service’s investigation. CBC Toronto has also contacted Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit to see if it is aware of the video.

A preliminary investigation by the SIU found that a Peel police officer spotted a blue Infiniti travelling eastbound on Countryside Drive shortly after noon on Thursday.

Moments later, the car slammed into a Volkswagen Atlas SUV, sending the vehicle and the Ciasullo family careening into a light pole.

Six-year-old Clara was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders. Ciasullo, Liliana and Mila were all transported to hospital, where they later died of their injuries.

The driver of the blue Infiniti suffered a broken leg, Brown said.

The SIU, which is called when there are deaths, serious injuries or allegations of sexual assault in cases involving police, invoked its mandate to investigate soon afterwards.

SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon would not say whether a police chase was underway before the crash, or what transpired between in the moments leading up to it.

The SIU says seven investigators and one collision reconstructionist have been assigned to the case.

CBC