Bizarre arrest

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Update: Police have wrapped up an extensive investigation and found that the pedestrian crossed without the right of way and no charges will be laid.

A 55-year old Binbrook man was hit and killed crossing the street Monday night and while police were investigating, a suspected bank robber, who’d avoided being caught for weeks, crashed into the crime scene.

Matthew Russell was struck and killed by a car while crossing the street in front of his home. And that led to the arrest of Kyle Heath, who is now facing 23 charges related to six bank robberies.

Here’s how it is all became connected.

Matthew Russell was known to his friends as the king of the motorcycle. The 55 year old father of two raced competitively for years, and is said to be able to fix any bike he worked on. He was struck and killed after 7:30 Monday night on Highway 56 at Kirk Road in Binbrook. His girlfriend, Darlene, saw the whole thing, but didn’t know it was Matthew.

“He was crossing the road to come home and come into the house and somebody hit him.”

Police closed off the intersection for the investigation. According to police, the driver of the car, a 63 year old man from Smithville, tried to avoid the collision, and stayed at the scene to help. Alcohol and speed have been ruled out as factors, but they say conditions like weather and darkness could have played a factor.

But then, the situation changed drastically. Two cars collided right at the crime scene. One a gold Saturn, the other, a green Ford Explorer.

It was after 8 o’clock Monday night when when the gold Saturn was heading northbound along Highway 56, saw the roadblock and decided to do a U-turn. They were then struck on the broad side by the Ford Explorer which was driven by Kyle Heath.

29 year old Kyle Heath was wanted in connection with a rash of recent bank robberies, one of which was earlier that day in Caledonia. Police spotted his car on Highway 56 and began to follow which led to the second collision. Heath was taken into custody shortly after. He is now facing 23 charges relating to bank robberies and failure to comply with the conditions of his bail. He was out on bail for a separate assault charge dating back to last May. He was also charged with dangerous driving related to the crash.

All people in Binbrook could talk about though was Matthew Russell.

Darlene said Russell was her best friend in the world. She is now trying to trying to figure out the next steps.

Heath made his first appearance in a Hamilton court. He was remanded into custody at Barton Street prison until his next appearance on January 5th.

Because police were involved, the Special Investigations Unit has taken over the investigation.