Police to update 2019 hit and run that took life of 16-year-old

Investigators are expected to provide an update about what they have described as an intentional hit-and-run from 2019 that took the life of a 16-year-old male teenager in East York.

Matthew Dreaver, 16, of Toronto, was struck and killed by a vehicle near Woodbine Avenue and O’Connor Drive just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 7 of that year.

Toronto Police Service (TPS) homicide detectives previously indicated they were searching for two men in connection to the incident. They identified the suspect vehicle as a 2007-to-2012 blue or black Hyundai Santa Fe.

It’s believed that Dreaver and a friend became involved in an altercation with the two men in a vehicle at 1500 Woodbine Avenue just after 2 a.m. Dreaver was without vital signs when paramedics arrived and died later in hospital.

Authorities released graphic and disturbing video footage of the night Dreaver was killed, showing the driver of an SUV mounting the curb and striking the 16-year-old from behind. The driver fled the area westbound on Bracebridge Avenue, north on Woodbine Avenue, eastbound on O’Connor Drive and then east on St. Clair Avenue East.

Dreaver’s mother, Kelly Jones, authorized the video’s release, hoping that someone might recognize the car in question or that the suspects would turn themselves in.

“They knew what they were doing; they knew it,” Jones said in a 2019 interview with The Leader Spirit. “They hit him, and they left him on the street like an animal. They just drove away …they left my son dead on the street.”

Dreaver’s family will join TPS officers for Friday’s update on the case, scheduled for 11 a.m. at the TPS headquarters.

With files from news staff