Oshawa man pleads guilty to impaired driving causing death

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His poor passenger didn't stand a chance.

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Early on the morning of March 6, 2022, a beautiful, vivacious 19-year-old girl was driven along Lake Shore Boulevard. V. by Kumaran Sankarkumar, 30 years oldV BMW M4 2018.

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We wish we could tell you the name of his passenger – her Facebook memorial is filled with photos and videos of the smart, athletic and educated young woman sorely missed by her friends – but a publication ban on her identity was approved by Superior Court Judge Michael Dineen at the request of her family.

We would like to publish one of her photos, show you her beaming smile and her eyes sparkling with cheerfulness, to help you realize what a senseless tragedy this was.

A promising life cruelly snuffed out in a second at the hands of yet another selfish drunk driver on our streets.

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The posted speed limit was 60 km/h. But according to an agreed statement of facts handed to the court on Tuesday, Sankarkumar suddenly accelerated and was driving at an insane speed of 180 km/h five seconds before the collision on the lakeshore west of Jameson Avenue.

She probably didn't know that the man behind the wheel had a troubling driving record. According to evidence presented to the court, Sankarkumar collected five demerit points for two incidents in 2019 – first for speeding and then for an unsafe collision that resulted in a “non-fatal injury”.

That early Sunday morning, at 2:35 a.m., Sankarkumar entered the westbound lane, despite four clear “Wrong Way” and “No Entry” signs warning motorists to keep eastbound traffic on the right. Instead, he headed straight for a concrete barrier with a small metal fence on top.

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“The BMW crashed into the end of a fixed concrete bridge barrier at a speed of approximately 127 km/h,” the report said.

“The impact of the collision effectively split the vehicle in half between the driver and passenger seat, causing the entire passenger seat with the deceased in it to be ejected from the vehicle.”

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Crown attorney Marnie Goldenberg said the damage to the BMW from the collision was so “catastrophic” that she was unable to list all the parts of the car that were mangled, broken and severed. The horrific photographs of the disaster on display tell the story better than words.

According to her, an inspection of the BMW after the collision did not reveal any mechanical defects.

The passenger was taken to the hospital, where she died from “blunt force injuries.”

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Sankarkumar was also taken to the hospital where his blood was taken. It was later tested by the Center for Forensic Science and determined that the Oshawa driver's blood alcohol level was 141 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood at the time of the collision, nearly twice the legal limit.

Two months after the fatal collision, he surrendered to Toronto Traffic Police, where he was charged with dangerous driving causing death and impaired driving causing death.

Now, more than three years later, as the victim's mother and several of her friends listened on Zoom, Sankarkumar, 34, pleaded guilty to the second of two charges.

His lawyer asked for a pre-sentence report on his client and a return date for victim impact statements has been set for April, when we can learn more about the unnamed young woman who should never have died that night.

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