Victoria father identified as victim of deadly crash

Speed was a factor in the horrific three-car crash Friday night that killed a Victoria father of two, West Shore RCMP say.

Cpl. Scott Braes said Ted Carino, 33, was driving his Honda Civic southbound on the highway just south of Aspen Road around 6:20 p.m. when he crossed the centre line and smashed head-on into an oncoming Jeep Liberty.

A white pickup truck heading north rear-ended the Jeep, leaving what one witness described as a “perfect triangle” of mangled vehicles.

Carino was pronounced dead at the scene and the highway was closed for more than four hours as crash analysts examined the vehicles.

The RCMP, Malahat Volunteer Fire Department and B.C. Ambulance crews were on the scene.

The driver of the Jeep was sent to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries — lacerations and broken bones — and the two occupants of the pickup truck were taken to hospital with less-serious injuries, Braes said.

Andrew Long was heading up Island at 6:20 p.m., and was in one of the first cars stopped by the crash. After a few minutes, his car and a few others were able to pass through the scene before traffic was halted.

“It was horrific,” Long said. “The front end of the Civic was basically ripped right off.”

The crash has left a family torn apart as they mourn the loss of “a true family man,” said Carino’s close friend and business partner Bob Mehr.

Carino was happily married with two young children, a three-year-old son and a five-month-old daughter.

He was also a successful pharmacist who co-owned People’s Pharmacy in Mill Bay with Mehr and managed several pharmacies in Victoria. At the time of the crash, Carino was heading home from work in Mill Bay, a drive he made every day, Mehr said.

Carino was constantly giving back to the community, Mehr said, through generous donations to a variety of medical causes and support for local Rotary clubs.

He was a talented tennis player, Mehr said, but above all, a devoted husband and father who loved playing with his kids.

“He was the symbol of the ideal husband, of the ideal father, the ideal friend,” he said. “This man was a very loved man.”

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