ELZINGA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-07-05 published
Three Friends who perished in watery crash were ‘full of life'
By Anthony
REINHART and Sarah
BOESVELD and Matthew
CAMPBELL,
Page A1
Minett, Ontario, Toronto -- Peninsula Road is worth taking slowly,
if only for the postcard-pretty views of the Joe River, as the
locals call it.
On Friday, where the road curves before crossing the river, cottage-bound
travellers slowed to take in a starkly different sight: 20 metres
of metal guardrail ripped from the ground, a pine tree shorn
at a point as high as a basketball hoop, and various bits of
the Audi S4 that literally flew through here and into the river
on Thursday evening, killing three young men inside.
A fourth occupant, a young woman, survived somehow.
Ontario
Provincial
Police identified the dead as Tyler
MULCAHY
and Cory MINTZ, both 20 and from Toronto, and Kourosh
TOTONCHIAN,
19, of North York.
The
Audi belonged to Mr.
MINTZ, but Mr.
MULCAHY was driving when
the car crashed into the lake.
Friends and family said Friday that the young men were “full
of life” and loved to have a good time up at the cottage while
on a break from their university studies.
Mr. TOTONCHIAN's father, Ali, said Friday that his son was “a
great boy” who was finishing his second year of business at the
University of British Columbia, and had dreams of becoming a
lawyer.
“He was a people person. He could always charm his way through
anything, ” Mr.
TOTONCHIAN said.
Ryan SILVERSTEIN, who had known Mr.
MINTZ for seven years, said
the young man was starting an acting career and was seeking an
agent. He had finished his first year at the University of Western
Ontario in London and was living in his mother's boyfriend's
cottage on Peninsula Road during the summer while running his
own boat-detailing business.
“He wasn't just a best friend, he was my brother, ” he said of
Mr. MINTZ. “He was a hipster guy, liked to party, wore tight
jeans, listened to cool music.&rdquo
A family member said the group was driving home from Cory
MINTZ's
cottage at the time of the accident.
Mr. MULCAHY attended Upper Canada College and had completed his
third year at the University of San Diego. Friend Andrew
REBURN
described him as “fun guy to be around. He had a great sense
of humour and always seemed to be happy.&rdquo
Nastasia ELZINGA, 19, of Toronto escaped the wreckage and was
taken to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge, where
she was treated for minor injuries and released. Friends say
she attends McGill University in Montreal and is “athletic and
very bright.&rdquo
“I don't know how she walked away, ” Ontario Provincial Police
Constable Skeeter
KRUGER said of the 7 p.m. accident, “but she
said her Friends were still in the car” as the first of many
emergency workers arrived.
The car came to rest on the rocky river bottom with its passenger
side down and the badly damaged driver's side protruding less
than 30 centimetres from the water, Constable
KRUGER said.
Police, local volunteer firefighters and bystanders scrambled
down an embankment of granite boulders and waded into 1.5 metres
of water to retrieve the young men. They tried to resuscitate
them, but to no avail, Constable
KRUGER said.
The wrecked car, leaking fuel, was pulled from the river afterward.
On Friday, driver after driver pulled over, some with bouquets
and all with sober expressions, off the winding road, which has
a posted speed limit of 80 km/h.
Ontario Provincial Police traffic investigators were not ready
to discuss the speed of the Audi or who was driving, but it was
clear that the car left the road at substantial speed, given
the length of ripped-out guardrail, the tree broken four metres
above ground, the strewn debris and a set of curving skid marks
that indicated a failed attempt to cling to the yellow centre
line.
Herwig SCHROTH, 71, a resident of nearby Port Carling, said that
every summer he sees vacationers in high-performance cars, speeding.
Last year's example, which he witnessed near Bala, involved “two
cars racing at at least 150 km/h; one a Corvette, one a BMW.
They were just chasing each other, ” Mr.
SCHROTH said at the
roadside, where a pine scent wafted from the snapped tree.
“It's the kind of thing that happens every year, ” said Alf
MORTIMER,
84, a lifelong Muskokan who owns the marina in Port Sandfield,
a few kilometres south of the crash site. “But this is a bad
accident.&rdquo
Beyond the obvious loss to the young men's families and Friends,
Constable KRUGER said, the deaths unnerved colleagues. The Bracebridge
Ontario Provincial Police detachment has now seen six deaths
in four incidents in recent weeks -- three on the roads and one,
last weekend, on the water.
“Having to do [death] notifications is one of the worst jobs
we have to do, ” he said. “There isn't one person who goes home
at the end of the day and doesn't take a piece of this with them.&rdquo
Autopsies were scheduled for today; subsequent toxicology tests
will determine whether alcohol played a role.
In the meantime, Constable
KRUGER said, “there has to be higher
respect for our roads and our waterways across the province.
We continue to educate people about making good driving decisions,
and it would be great if some of those messages would get through
to people.&rdquo
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ELZINGA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-07-12 published
'I just want my big brother back'
Mourners say goodbye in funeral for third crash victim in tragic
Muskoka accident
By Sarah BOESVELD,
Page
A10
Nastasia ELZINGA laid both hands flat on the wooden casket decked
with white and pink lilies yesterday as she gave her final goodbye
to boyfriend Tyler
MULCAHY.
As she leaned over the casket, she wasn't crying, but smiling,
perhaps because so many loved ones gathered to honour Mr.
MULCAHY,
who died in a horrific car crash in Muskoka along with two other
Friends last Thursday.
Ms. ELZINGA was also in the car and survived.
Hundreds gathered to pay tribute to Mr.
MULCAHY at Grace Church
on-the-Hill yesterday afternoon. Before a crowd of people crammed
in the pews and lining the walls, the 20-year-old was described
by his Friends as an anchor, by his sisters as a protector, and
by his father as a reason for living.
"Tyler is the reason we hurt so much," said his father, Tim
MULCAHY.
"We hurt because he loved us and we loved him."
Mr. MULCAHY motioned toward the pews where Alan
MINTZ and Ali
TOTONCHIAN, fathers of Cory
MINTZ, 20, and Kourosh
TOTONCHIAN,
19, who also perished in the crash, were sitting. He thanked
them for their support and for phoning to console him after the
tragedy.
"Alan MINTZ said we were in a club. When I reflected upon the
club, I realized it was the most expensive club in the world,
but one nobody wanted to join," he said.
Mr. MULCAHY recollected the early-morning phone call to his hotel
room last Thursday in Italy, where he was on vacation. It was
the police reporting the unthinkable. He returned to Canada and
the scene of the crash on Peninsula Road in Muskoka, where the
Audi his son was driving missed a turn and crash-landed into
Lake Joseph.
Yesterday, the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed that speed
and alcohol were factors in the fatal collision. Autopsy reports
confirmed the young men drowned. All were wearing seatbelts,
police said. Ms.
ELZINGA wrestled her way out of the car and
made it to shore.
Tyler MULCAHY's younger sister, Chanel, recalled her brother's
merciless teasing, but also how he was always there for her.
She said he revelled in the time they spent together and he would
never pick up his cellphone if it rang during one of their weekly
lunches.
"Tyler was so brilliant, I don't know why he got into that car,"
she said. "I just want my big brother back."
Shaya MULCAHY highlighted four things she remembers about her
brother: the hoodies he wore, his basketball talent, the flamboyant
hats he sometimes modelled for laughs, and the joy he brought
to so many.
"Without a doubt, Tyler was the happiest person I've ever known,"
she said. "Tyler knew how to live life."
Mourners wore round white buttons handed out before the service
that read "Tyler
MULCAHY 1988-Forever" and pictured a blue Converse
shoe with Cory and Kourosh's names etched into the sole.
Friends said Mr.
MULCAHY was a teacher, a rock and someone who
excelled at everything he put his mind to, especially sports
and his studies.
Lorne GREENBERG remembered Mr.
MULCAHY's ability to make Friends
with virtually anyone. He recalls walking in Yorkville with Mr.
MULCAHY
and hearing voices behind them yelling "Tyler, Tyler, Tyler!"
"Sure enough, two homeless guys come running toward us," he said.
"Tyler didn't care about who you were Friends with. Tyler just
cared about who you were, and that's something very rare and
very special."
Choral music and the scent of lilies wafted through the church
full of tearful people young and old. Mourners sang the traditional
Upper Canada College hymn, Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven,
after tributes were given to the young man, who attended the
prestigious school before spending a year studying arts at the
University of San Diego.
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