York Regional Police retired superintendent Graeme Turl said it is not easy helping his daughter since her husband was hit by a drunk driver in 2017.
The driver high on drugs and impaired by alcohol was travelling 227 km/hour and hit Stuart Cameron Ellis on Highway 48 while travelling northbound in the southbound lane. Ellis, who was 28, was on his way to work at 5:45 a.m. on a Monday.
Ellis is survived by his now six-year-old son and he died just after finding out his wife, Justine Ellis, was pregnant, leaving two sons fatherless.
The youngest son, Colby Stuart Ellis, just turned five and “is just processing the fact that he never gets to meet his dad,” Turl said. “All his friends have dads. He doesn’t. He cries at home and says it isn’t fair.”
York Regional Police, OPP and MADD are urging everyone not to make the choice that impaired driver did. The organizations held a news conference and RIDE check Aug. 4 to speak to the dangers of impaired driving ahead of the long weekend.
York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said that in 2022, they laid more than 2,000 Criminal Code charges relating to impaired driving and have laid more than 980 this year. He said they continue to fight against the issue and still see cases of parents driving drunk with children in their vehicles, vehicles littered with beer cans and impaired readings three, four and five times the legal limit.
“People losing their licences, their jobs, their vehicles and victims losing their lives. We’ve been fighting this fight for decades and still, little has changed,” he said. “It’s disheartening, but I will tell you this, we will not give up.”
OPP Supt. Heath Crichton said it is important for organizations to partner together to address impaired driving.
Eliminating impaired driving “can be accomplished if everyone in every community makes a commitment to never drive after drinking or taking drugs,” he said, adding that “the human cost of impaired driving is too great to have anything less than that.”
As the long weekend arrives, MADD York Region president Kathy Mitchell urged everyone to plan a safe ride ahead of time and call cabs or an Uber. She added to call 911 immediately if you suspect an impaired driver.
“Don’t give another family a life sentence,” she said. “Do not drive impaired is the message today. Please carry it forward.”
Turl praised the efforts of RIDE programs in educating people.
“Please don’t drive impaired,” he said. “Make sure this doesn’t happen to any other family.”
