A stolen BMW that crashed into a bus injuring nine people in Toronto was involved in break-and-enter investigations and originally snatched during a carjacking, police alleged on Friday.
Toronto police said they had arrested three people from Toronto, Markham and Pickering related to the car and filed various charges against them, including for theft and fleeing from police.
The crash was reported just before 2 a.m. on Monday morning in the Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue area. Officials said a TTC bus was driving through an intersection when a BMW hit it with “such force” that the bus spun into the northbound lanes.
Five people on the bus, including the driver, as well as the four people in the BMW were all injured. Police alleged the BMW had been stolen.
On Friday, Toronto police said they believed they knew when the vehicle was originally taken and claimed it had been used in an unrelated break-and-enter.
Toronto police said that on Nov. 1, the owner of a BMW X6 was driving it near Sandalwood Parkway East and Conestoga Drive when a black sedan cut them off.
Two people got out of the sedan and approached the victim with a handgun, according to police. The victim handed over the car and the suspects drove away in it.
Then, two weeks later on Nov. 13, police said five people travelling in the same stolen BMW X6 triggered an alarm at a home in the Bathurst Street and Brooke Avenue area when they smashed the front door with a rock.
The glass was reportedly reinforced and the suspects were unable to get into the home. They fled the area in the same car.
Later that night, police said they received another call relating to a break-and-enter associated with the BMW.
It was five days later, on Nov. 18, that the same BMW flew an intersection at Bathurst and Wilson and crashed into a bus, according to police.
Three have now been arrested and charged in connection with the events after search warrants were also carried out. The three facing charges are aged 19 to 33.