Kenneth Arkwell, one of the pedestrians fatally struck by the driver of a vehicle in Mimico last week, was a happy man who had an active lifestyle.
The 75-year-old was very social and loved to go on walks, his daughter Lori said in an interview with CP24 on Sunday.
“I moved to this area because I liked the bike path. And I wanted to be near the water,” she said.
On March 31, Arkwell and another pedestrian, 43-year-old Kelly Hamilton, were in a crosswalk at Lake Shore Boulevard and Superior Avenue, police said, when they were hit by a speeding white Cadillac XT6.
The driver of the vehicle also died after subsequently crashing into a parked flatbed trailer.
“We’re still processing… You can’t describe it. Like we’re in disbelief,” Lori said.
“We’re in shock because he was so healthy and you wouldn’t expect him to… not like this. It’s so unexpected.”
Police attend the scene of a collision in the west end of Toronto on Thurs., March 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
Lori said her family learned about Arkwell’s death Friday morning.
“We have seen that on the news that there was an accident, a fatality. And my son (Christopher) and myself started calling my dad and couldn’t get ahold of him. And we gave it the benefit of the doubt,” Lori said.
“He usually calls us and informs us of something happening and when he didn’t call, Christopher started to get concerned and then raised awareness in me and then I started to get concerned, but again, you wouldn’t think that something so tragic would happen.”
On Sunday, Lori was back at her father’s Mimico residence, going through his stuff as the family was preparing to celebrate Arkwell’s life.
Kenneth Arkwell’s daughter Lori shows a picture of her father (left) and her son (centre) taken in 2011.
“Christopher spent a lot of time here with him. Christopher and my dad were like really good buddies,” she said.
Lori shared that her father would text her ‘good morning’ every day, talk to her about the weather and tell old-fashioned jokes.
She said she last spoke to her father at 11:20 am, hours before the crash that took her father.
“The mornings are hard, missing that text every morning,” Lori said, fighting back the tears. “Sometimes, it doesn’t hit you. Like off and on. It’s like off and on, off and on.”
“I miss him. I love him.”
Lori said she believes the crash could have been prevented and her father would still be alive.
Minutes before the crash, Toronto police said the driver was involved in a “minor sideswipe-style collision” with a van parked in the Lake Shore Boulevard West and Eighth Street area.
Police said the driver was having what appeared to be a seizure following the collision.
Emergency personnel attended, but police said the driver ultimately re-entered his vehicle about 12 minutes later and fled the scene prior to the arrival of officers.
Police revealed that the driver was under several prohibitions at the time of the crash that should have prevented him from getting behind the wheel. They included a Canada-wide Criminal Code driving prohibition and a provincial driver’s license medical suspension.
“I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how the car was in an accident or maybe a fender bender before this fatality. I’m not sure how he’s able to get back in the car and just speed off,” Lori said.
“Again, it’s under investigation. And I guess I’ll have to leave it in the police hands and take it from there.”
– with files from Chris Fox and crime analyst Steve Ryan