‘Our family is reeling’: Parents of baby, grandparents killed in Highway 401 crash speak out

The parents of an infant and two grandparents killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby, Ont., last week say they are reeling from their losses.

“Our family is reeling from a devastating tragedy following a wrong-way crash involving a police chase,” read a statement from the parents released Sunday by the Special Investigations Unit — specifically the father, Gokulnath Manivannan.

Manivannan said he and his wife Ashwitha Jawahar are “mourning the loss of three of the most precious people in our lives.”

“Our 3-month-old bundle of joy Aditya Vivaan, our respected father Mr. Manivannan Srinivasapillai and our most god-fearing mother Mrs. Mahalakshmi Ananthakrishnan,” the statement read.

“We are at a complete loss of words to describe the agony and vacuum in our hearts knowing we can never hold our child Aditya Vivaan, who gave us so many precious memories in such a short time, in our hands again,” the statement continued.

On the night of April 29, the SIU said Durham Regional Police officers were notified by an off-duty officer of a robbery at an LCBO near Green Road and Highway 2 in Clarington, Ont.

SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon said officers found a vehicle of interest — a U-Haul cargo van — and followed the van through numerous streets in Durham Region “as the vehicle drove erratically.”

Hudon said the vehicle got on Highway 401 at Stevenson Road in Oshawa in the wrong direction and was travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes.

Shortly after, Hudon said there was a multi-vehicle collision involving at least six vehicles on Highway 401, just east of Highway 412, in Whitby, resulting in the death of the child, aged three months, the grandmother, age 55, and the grandfather, age 60.

Manivannan, 33, and Jawahar, 27,  both from Ajax, were also in the car and were hurt in the collision.

In the family statement released Sunday, Manivannan said his parents were visiting from Chennai, India, with the sole purpose of spending time with their grandson.

They had arrived in Canada only two days before the deadly wrong-way crash, Manivannan wrote.

“My father, who had recently retired at the age of 60, was overjoyed with the opportunity to spend time with his grandson,” Manivannan wrote in the statement. “He affectionately referred to this time as the ‘year of grandparents fun.’”

Manivannan also wrote that his mother, the baby boy’s grandmother, “was eagerly anticipating every moment with her son and grandson, planning to make their stay all about her grandchild.”

Meanwhile, the SIU said a 21-year-old man who was driving the U-Haul died at the scene. A 38-year-old man, who was a passenger in the cargo van was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The SIU, which investigates the conduct of officers in serious incidents, including those that have resulted in death, is probing the incident.

“The pain of my own injuries pales as I grapple with the shock and loss of my parents and my only son on the same evening and the ordeal continues with my wife’s continued suffering from surgeries and repeated flashbacks of the trauma,” Manivannan wrote.

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