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Deadly crash probe ongoing amid new details on school bus driver, police officer

May 30, 2023, East Zorra-Tavistock, Ont. – Det.-Const. Steven Tourangeau was working his first day with the Ontario Provincial Police organized crime unit.

Bus driver David James Stewart was beginning his usual shift shuttling students to school in the Woodstock area.

Tragedy struck when their paths intersected just before 7 a.m. Monday – Tourangeau’s unmarked police vehicle and Stewart’s school bus colliding at the increasingly notorious intersection of Oxford Road 33 and Highway 59 in this rural community northwest of Woodstock.

Both men, sole occupants of their vehicles, died at the scene, police say. Questions remain about the exact cause of the collision, which left nearby residents still stunned 24 hours later amid an ongoing probe led by London police.

“I ran around the corner, saw the school bus and then (got sick). I was on the phone with 911. I was freaking out,” said Dylan Hart, who heard a “big boom” while inside his family home, which sits on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Tourangeau, 35, worked in the OPP’s Huron-Perth street crime unit before recently landing a spot in the organized crime bureau – a joint forces unit made up of OPP members and officers from other police forces across the province. Its members typically wear street clothes and drive unmarked vehicles.

The sixth Ontario police officer killed in the line of duty in the past year, Tourangeau had three young children and lived in Thorndale, where OPP cruisers were parked outside of the family home following the fatal crash.

Stewart, 71, was a retired business owner. He was a father of four, grandfather and great-grandfather who was married to his “best friend” for 47 years, according to his obituary.

A motorcycle and small-engine mechanic by trade, he owned a small business in Woodstock for many years before retiring and taking up bus driving, the obituary states. “After retiring, David spent 12 years driving school bus, a profession he loved. He loved NASCAR, the NFL and fishing, but family was everything.”

Online tributes poured in Tuesday for Stewart, who worked for Langs Bus Lines and was beloved by his young passengers.

“Our son talked about him almost every day and was always excited to go to the bus to see Dave,” Nicholas Irvine, the father of a four-year-old boy, wrote in an online exchange with The Free Press.

Stewart would always strike up a conversation with the youngster, who can struggle with speech, even if he didn’t understand the boy, Irvine said. “He was so patient with the kids. He was an incredible man.”

Stewart’s bus was shared between kids from Huron Park secondary school in Woodstock and Hickson Central public school, in nearby Hickson. He’d been a driver in the Hickson area for four years, according to his employer.

Stewart would always strike up a conversation with the youngster, who can struggle with speech, even if he didn’t understand the boy, Irvine said. “He was so patient with the kids. He was an incredible man.”

Stewart’s bus was shared between kids from Huron Park secondary school in Woodstock and Hickson Central public school, in nearby Hickson. He’d been a driver in the Hickson area for four years, according to his employer.

Tuesday, few signs of damage remained at the scene. Small pieces of debris and tire marks lined the northeast corner, leading into a field where witnesses say the bus came to rest after the crash. Flowers had been mounted to a small post along the property line.

London police are leading the investigation. A police spokesperson declined to provide any additional details Tuesday, including the direction the car and school bus were travelling, citing the ongoing probe.

“The investigation involves resources from both (London police) and the OPP. We are continuing to analyze evidence that was obtained at the scene and the investigation is active and ongoing,” Const. Sandasha Bough said in an email.

Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), isn’t probing the collision because the only officer involved has died, spokesperson Monica Hudson said.

Tourangeau’s on-duty death continued to draw condolences Tuesday from police forces and law-enforcement organizations across Canada.

No funeral details for Tourangeau have been announced yet. His family will decide whether they want to have a traditional police funeral, an OPP spokesperson said.

A service for Stewart will be held at Brock and Visser Funeral Home in Woodstock on Monday, June 6 from 6-8 p.m. and Tuesday, June 7 from 10-11 a.m., followed by a burial at the Woodstock Anglican Cemetery.

– London Free Press