Saskatoon Muslim community mourns teen killed in high-speed crash
Friends are raising money for the grieving family of a 16-year-old Saskatoon boy who was killed in a high-speed crash that injured two other teens on Sunday morning.
Shahryar Amir was a passenger in the vehicle that crashed into a pole and flipped over on a stretch of Taylor Street East in the early morning hours Sunday.
Amir was declared dead at the scene by police at around 6 a.m.
As a Saskatoon Police Service collision analyst continues to investigate the crash, the condition of one of the 15-year-old survivors is being watched closely.
Saskatoon police say the vehicle was being driven by a 15-year-old who didn’t have a Class 5 drivers license. He sustained non life-threatening injuries.
The other passenger, also a 15-year-old, is in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
“Impairment is not believed to be a factor of this collision, however members of the major crimes have assumed carriage of the criminal component of this investigation,” Saskatoon police spokesperson Joshua Grella told CTV News.
A resident living in apartments on Taylor Street who heard the crash made the initial call on Sunday morning.
Police say a 16-year-old boy is dead and two other teens are injured following a crash with a pole at this Taylor Street intersection on Sunday. (Chad Hills / CTV News)
“As a police service our officers certainly feels the loss that our community feels when a young person dies in this nature,” Grella said.
Amir’s family friend Mahnoor Naeem has started a Go Fund Me page to help the family with funeral and other expenses as they deal with the tragedy.
“He was really kind and generous. It was so tragic to hear when he passed away,” Naeem said.
Amir went to Evan Hardy Collegiate and was in Grade 10, according to Naeem who says her family left Pakistan at the same time as Amir’s in 2012. They were hoping for a better life.
Naeem says this loss is affecting the whole Muslim community. She’s received numerous messages of support since starting the fundraiser late Sunday. Initially she set the goal at $10,000, but it has already hit almost $16,000.
According to Naeem, it is customary for the body of a deceased loved one to be taken back to Pakistan for burial, but in this case the family will have funeral services in Saskatoon.
“When you’re so far from home, there’s no family here to support them so I think the least we can do is start a page and help in that aspect,” she said.
As the major crimes unit continues to investigate exactly what happened in the fatal collision, they’re not ruling out charges which could range from criminal negligence to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, according to Grella.
Correction
An earlier version of this story said Amir was a student at Centennial Collegiate. He most recently attended Evan Hardy.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Looking over our shoulders': A killing looms large in a little B.C. town
Something shifted in the pretty little village of Lumby, B.C., after Tatjana Stefanski vanished.
Officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler is being disciplined for not having bodycam activated
The Kentucky police officer who arrested top-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler outside the PGA Championship is receiving “corrective action” for failing to have his body-worn camera activated.
Hundreds have applied for this 'adventurer' job in Banff National Park
Coined as Banff's 'ultimate summer job,' the Moraine Lake Bus Company says hundreds of people from across the world have applied for its adventurer position.
Dangerous brew: Ocean heat and La Nina combo likely mean more Atlantic hurricanes this summer
Get ready for what nearly all the experts think will be one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, thanks to unprecedented ocean heat and a brewing La Nina.
Air travel is expensive. WestJet wants the government to do more to change that
WestJet is asking the federal government to put measures in place to lower ticket costs for travellers, but questions remain on who would foot the bill.
Potential tornado 'surreal' for residents who witnessed damaging storm in southern Ontario
Witnessing a potential tornado was 'surreal' for residents who caught a glimpse of the damaging storm in southern Ontario on Wednesday night.
Montreal-area high school students protest 'sexist' dress code
Students at Curé-Antoine-Labelle High School near Montreal are protesting after they say their school's administration started pushing what they call a 'sexist' dress code.
Jennifer Lopez's response to question about Ben Affleck is a reminder of their decades of love in the spotlight
Plenty of people are wondering if Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are having problems in their marriage, but one person had the nerve to ask in a public forum.
Was this the bug that stung you? Wasp sightings revive murder-hornet concerns; no detections confirmed
As temperatures rise out of a mild El Nino winter, Canada's buggy season is already upon us again, and this year, the bugs are looking especially big.