Couple, sister among four dead in fiery crash

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Searing heat from flaming wreckage prevented desperate rescuers from getting to four people — including a “fairytale couple” and a teenage girl — killed in a violent head-on crash Monday.

“They were here one minute and gone the next,” Dawn Barristo, who watched the deadly collision unfold, said Tuesday. “It was terrible.”

Georgetown resident Brian McGinnis, 24, was behind the wheel of a 2016 Kia, driving his girlfriend Lauren Bouchard, 22, and her 16-year-old sister, Michelle Bouchard, to their Brampton home from a Thanksgiving celebration with family. A 1998 Pontiac Trans Am driven by Calisto Mendonca, 49, smashed into them on Bovaird Dr. W., just west of Hurontario St., around 8:40 p.m.

All four were killed at the scene.

The trio spent the day picking apples before going to McGinnis’s family home for Thanksgiving dinner, Michelle Hillyard, said, fighting back tears as she described her nephew.

“Brian was a joker,” she added. “He loved to make everyone laugh.”

Hillyard, who was among a large group of friends and relatives comforting one another at a nearby coffee shop, said her nephew dated Lauren for a few years and there’s no doubt they would have wed in the near future.

“Lauren was the sweetest girl,” she said. “She really was the kindest soul.”

Longtime friend Jonathan Bruneau said Brian and Lauren were always together.

“They were perfect together,” he said. “It was like a fairytale.”

Horrified onlookers tried desperately to rescue the occupants of the two vehicles but the flames were just too hot, Barristo said, explaining numerous people just stood on the roadway screaming.

“I just feel so sad for them,” she said of the four victims. “No one had a chance.”

Barristo was among the dozens of players outside of Bingo Country, just west of Gillingham Dr., during a break in their games when the westbound Trans Am lost control, hit the centre median and flew into the oncoming Kia, bursting into a ball of fire.

She recalled hearing a loud “bang” just before the Trans Am suddenly veered left.

“It was almost like his motor blew and he lost control,” she speculated, adding the driver of the Kia had no time to react.

“It was a horrific crash,” Const. Mark Fischer said. “It’s just so tragic for the families involved, especially on Thanksgiving.

“Family members were probably expecting these people to return and instead police officers show up at the door to tell them their loved ones won’t be coming home.”

Investigators are looking at an assortment of possible factors, such as mechanical failure, excessive speed and alcohol, he said.

In an effort to help the McGinnis and Bouchard families, Bruneau has launched an online fundraising campaign at gofundme.com/memorial-fund-2tqnrzbg.

cdoucette@postmedia.com

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