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(Updated)

Twenty-two year old Taylor Cronkwright of St. Catharines is facing multiple charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm after the car he was driving slammed into a tree early Wednesday morning. The Cadillac split in two. two people were thrown–all five were rushed to hospital with injuries.

The 911 call came in just before two-thirty in the morning. When emergency workers got there, they saw a Cadillac had slammed into a tree and had the front end severed, the steering wheel on the lawn and two people thrown from the car.

Mike Jones, friend of victims: “It was a brutal crash. Everything split all over the place. I’m really worried about them.”

Police say the Cadillac was driven by 22-year old Taylor Cronkwright. Friends say his sister and brother were in the car with him along with two other passengers.
Cronkwright remains in St. Catharines General. Two passengers were rushed to Hamilton with more serious injuries. The others were sent to Greater Niagara General.

The Cadillac was westbound on Queenston Street when the driver lost control near Victoria Lawn Cemetery.

Niagara Regional Police Sgt. Shane Donovan: “It was more of a glancing strike, so the front end of the vehicle ripped away from the vehicle.”

Taylor Cronkwright has been charged with three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

In 2009, three people were killed when the car they were in slammed into a tree outside Victoria Lawn Cemetery just metres away from the crash that happened this morning.

Police say speed and alcohol were involved in both collisions.

Dovovan: “When you mix speed and alcohol, this is the result. So people need to learn, slow down and don’t drink and drive.”

Looking at that wreckage, it’s hard to believe that one of the passengers suffered only scrapes. Police says that if that car had hit that tree head on, we would be talking about fatalities tonight.