The family speaks after 3 children were killed by a suspected drunk driver when the Highway 401 crashed

It was a weekend that started singing and dancing, but ended in tragedy.

On Saturday Jenelle Galve celebrated the long weekend at Victoria Day with her sister Jade and two children in Milton, Ont. The next morning she received a worrying call from the police.

The authorities explained this There was an accident And three of her sister's four children were killed in a collision with a drunk driver.

According to the police, Jade and their four children were driven by Jade's friend in a minivan on Sunday, May 18, when they were allegedly hit by a drunk driver who left Highway 401 in East in Renforth Drive in Etobicoke.

The investigators say that the driver allegedly accelerated the output ramp, lost control and hit the family's vehicle, which was stopped in a red light.

The 15-year-old Ramone and 13-year-old Jace were immediately killed in the crash. Shortly afterwards, 6-year-old Maya died in a local hospital. Her mother and 10-year-old brother Avery survived with Jade's friend.

“They are beautiful children. They were happy,” her aunt Jenelle Galve told CityNews. “They love basketball. Maya loved to dye it. She is very girlish. She loves to dance with my children on Tiktok.”

“They were the best children who could ever ask for themselves. And only to know that their innocent life was taken away from a mistake was so devastating,” she added.

The police arrested the driver, 19-year-old Ethan Lehouillier from Georgetown, Ontario, at the scene. It is suspended with 12 charges, including three cases of impairment that cause death and cause three cases of impairment of driving, which causes physical damage.

In the meantime, the children of the children with a concussion and broken ribs remains in a hospital. Her 10-year-old son recovers minor injuries and her boyfriend deals with stings on her head and a swollen eye.

“It is so important for people to understand that drinking and driving should stop,” said Aunt Jenelle Galve. “For this reason, this awareness has to go out everywhere. Because we now mourn, not just one thing, you know, we mourn three deceased children.”

The tragic collision comes almost a decade after a similar incident in Vaughan.

In September 2015, an impaired driver caused the death of 3 children and their grandfather. The driver, Marco Muzzowas sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was guilty of 2016. He was later Granted complete probation in 2021.

On Sunday, the family from the tragedy published the Laviña family on social media in 2015 and wrote: “After listening to the news with a broken heart, I'm so sorry. In grief and solidarity.”

An online donation campaign was set up for the Laviña family and more than 100,000 US dollars were collected by Monday evening.