 Islamuddin Attayee, brother of car crash victim Sara (left) slumps to the floor holding her pictures and weeping. (STAN BEHAL/QMI Agency)
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TORONTO = Grief overwhelmed Islamuddin Attayee as he crouched in his St. Jamestown apartment hallway and brought pictures of his dead sister to his tear-stained cheek.
"We lost everything," the weeping man said of sister Sara, 26, an innocent victim of a van fleeing police that rammed into the car she was driving.
"Why did this happen? I don't know. My family is destroyed. Our hope is the law, because we are living in Canada," Attayee said Tuesday. "We have the law and we respect the law."
The car that she had for only three weeks was crumpled on the driver's side when it was hit by a van early Monday.
Five other family members and friends who were in the car suffered massive injuries.
In hospital are his sister Addela, 43, who is in critical condition, niece
Mariam, 18, sister-in-law Fahemah, 37, friend Nadia Nadia, 34, and her daughter Dina, 16.
The van was pursued for a distance by Toronto Police, who were responding to a break-in call. The van was seen leaving a store in the Midland and Ellesmere Aves. area shortly after midnight Monday. Police followed the van south on Midland and then west on Lawrence Ave.
The van reportedly reached speeds of about 100 km/hr.
At Pharmacy, the van collided with the Honda Civic, knocking it west of the intersection. The van apparently spun over a concrete median before resting in the eastbound lanes.
Attayee said Sara was caring for their 83-year-old dad.
"I lost everything. We lost ..., they destroyed ..., I don't know ...," he said, unable to finish his thought.
Attayee said he heard that the suspect driving the van had recently been released from jail, possibly two days before the Monday crash.
But Toronto Police refused to comment on the case, deflecting all inquiries to the Special Investigations Unit. The SIU did not release any information about the 41-year-old suspect or if he has been charged.
He suffered minor injuries in the collision.
"It's very hard for us," Attayee said. "We lost everything. That's all I can say. We don't know what is going to happen next.
He said his sister Addela, a mother of four, is in critical condition at Scarborough General Hospital.
"She has broken everything: Legs, back, shoulders," Attayee said. "My sister-in-law, she's in a very critical situation. She hurt everything from the legs, on the left side and the right side, too."
Fahemah is a mom of five.
He pointed to parts of the head and limbs when describing the injuries of the other women hurt in the crash.
Attayee said the family has been receiving numerous calls from family and friends from around the world
"This is very hard for us and we need help," he said.
