He'd come to Toronto for an education and a chance at a better life.
All those dreams ended in a split second for a University of Toronto foreign exchange student on the Queensway near Cawthra Road late Tuesday night.

The still unidentified 30-year-old was driving a pick-up truck in the eastbound lanes when he became the unwilling centerpiece of a suspected road race between two others cars, which zoomed up behind his vehicle.

One of those hot rods apparently clipped the truck, sending it careening like a rocket into a hydro pole. The student never had a chance and was killed in the impact.

"Some vehicles were travelling at a high rate of speed together and it would appear that this is the direct cause," notes Peel Cst. Pete Brandwood. "It's very tragic. This is something that should be avoidable."

Police allege five cars were involved in the incident overall, calculating the skid marks on the pavement where the vehicles lost control. The road was closed for nine hours.

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion has seen too many people killed or injured from racing on her streets and feels helpless to put a stop to it.

"We have enough accidents without street racing," she complains. "I think the police have to crack down. But how can they be everywhere street racing takes place?"

The innocent bystander in this case had borrowed the pick up truck from a friend. Investigators call him an everyman, who was just driving along minding his own business.

The Harper government is planning on introducing a bill to make street racing a federal offence. And those who've seen the carnage believe it's no different than picking up a lethal weapon.

"This is no less violent than taking a gun and shooting it off on the streets," condemns O.P.P. Cst. Ken Taylor. "It's every bit as despicable. "

A 30-year-old exchange student studying at the University of Toronto is dead after his truck was rear-ended by one of a group of vehicles speeding along a Mississauga artery last night, Peel police say.
"He's an innocent victim in this," Const. Pete Brandwood said this morning. "He's driving along minding his own business (when) one of the vehicles rear-ends him, propels him into a pole and kills him."

The man was travelling east on the Queensway between Cawthra and Dixie Rds. in a Toyota pick-up truck he'd borrowed from a friend at around 10 p.m.

Three speeding vehicles travelling behind him - including a Honda and a Pontiac Sunfire - began "a sequence of events that starts a collision," Brandwood said.

Five vehicles were involved in the crash, including the victim's, the three vehicles speeding together and one other vehicle, he said. Police think there may have been a fourth vehicle traveling with the speeding group.

The deceased was the lone occupant of his vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. Passengers in the other vehicles sustained only minor injuries. No one was taken to hospital, Brandwood said.

Police aren't blaming the accident on street racing just yet, but "at least three vehicles (were) together, traveling in the same direction at a high rate of speed," Brandwood confirmed.

"There's conflicting stories whether they were racing," Brandwood said.

There have been no arrests or charges laid, "but a number of (unknown) charges are pending," and the vehicles involved have been seized as police investigate, he said. "Because there is such a high rate of speed involved in the accident, the physical evidence at the scene will take a while to decipher."

It is unknown what country the deceased was from. His identity is being withheld until police can notify his family.