NFS found in fatal drag-racing car crash
Street-racing teen kills cab driver in Toronto; copy of Need for Speed found in front seat of car, detective says game is not to blame.
Two young men in Toronto are being held for criminal negligence causing death after one of their cars slammed into a taxi cab, sending the car into a pole and instantly killing the driver, according to CTV.ca. Tahir Khan, 46, immigrated to Canada from Pakistan six years ago, and was to become a Canadian citizen tomorrow.
In the front seat of one of the teens' cars, police found a copy of a Need for Speed game, a street-racing game published by Electronic Arts.
The two teens had apparently been racing each other down the road, both in their respective parents' Mercedes-Benzes, at speeds of nearly 90 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone. One hit a wall, sending his car into the cab Khan was driving. Alexander Ryazanov, 18, survived the accident with scratches. The other driver, 18-year-old Wang-Piao Dumani Ross, fled the scene but was later apprehended when he attempted to blend into the gathering crowd.
Detective Paul Lobsinger said, "A game is a game. And when you get behind the wheel of a car it's not a game anymore. And when something tragic happens in a huge crash with a lot of smoke, there is no reset button. You can't start over with a new car and a new life."
Khan was described as a "very good guy, honest, and hardworking," by friends, and was supporting his wife and children, who still live in Pakistan.
"There is a small percentage who have difficulty separating reality and simulation, or fantasy. It's a very, very small percentage," Lobsinger told The National Post. "This was not the game's fault. There are millions who play this game and don't go out and do this."
Ryazanov and Dumani Ross face bail hearings on Friday and Monday. If convicted, the two could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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