Toronto Police colleagues are remembering a fellow officer who was killed Tuesday in a motorcycle accident while off duty.
Const. Riccardo Torchia, 30, had worked in 23 Division, covering Rexdale. He had been on the job for about two and a half years.
Torchia was killed Tuesday afternoon, doing what he loved: going out for a motorcycle ride with a friend on a separate bike.
Police say Torchia’s 2010 Suzuki Boulevard M109 motorcycle collided with a Mack dump truck coming from the other direction along Highway 7 in Vaughan.
The truck was turning left into a private driveway, in front of Torchia’s motorcycle when Torchia struck it. Police say it is likely he died instantly from the impact. The 54-year-old driver of the dump truck was not injured.
The flags at 23 Division were lowered in memory of Torchia Tuesday night, as fellow officers stood in line to salute one of their own.
“He was a good hard working individual that worked on number 8 platoon. Well known and well respected by the other officers,” Const. Del Gill told reporters.
Witnesses say Torchia’s motorcycle burst into flames after the crash. Fire crews responded to the scene, as well as police officers from nearby Peel Region, but Torchia was pronounced dead
Dawn Emmanuelle and her granddaughter Sarah Hutchison were behind the two motorcycles on Highway 7 as they approached Highway 50.
“They went through the light and we didn’t. And then we came up and one minute they were alive in front of us, and one minute, one of them is dead on the road,” Hutchison told CTV Toronto.
Emmanuelle says it was a horrible scene.
“He was on fire and his motorcycle was on fire and it was a terrible, just a terrible scene,’ she said.
Hutchison says the other biker was in shock and visibly distraught.
“He was just jumping up and down in front of him just so upset, like, ‘Oh my god, you’re dead and you’re my buddy and you’re on the road’,” she said.
Torchia was single with no children.
Because Torchia was off duty at the time of his death, he will not receive a full police funeral. A private service is planned.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing and witnesses are asked to contact police. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 1-866-876-5423.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Austin Delaney