A pedestrian has died after being hit by a truck on East Columbia Street Sunday afternoon.
The New Westminster Police Department has confirmed it's in the early stages of investigating a fatal pedestrian/motor vehicle incident that happened in the 100-block of East Columbia at about 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 19.
Officers were called to the scene for reports of an unresponsive pedestrian who had been struck by the driver of a semi-truck, an NWPD press release said this morning (Monday, Feb. 20).
"All the contributing factors of this incident are still under investigation," the release said.
Investigators from the Lower Mainland Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service were on scene, along with the New Westminster Police Department's major crime unit and victim assistance unit.
“This is a tragic event and our thoughts are with the family of this individual,” said NWPD spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Leaver in the release. “We have a large team of investigators working together to determine how this happened, but we are still in the early stages at this point.”
No information about the pedestrian has yet been released. A small memorial has been set up near where the accident occurred; a handful of flower bouquets were sitting next to the sidewalk when the Record went by the site on Monday afternoon (Family Day).
Anyone with information or dash-cam footage is asked to call the NWPD at 604-525-5411.
A stretch of East Columbia Street between Brunette Avenue and McBride Boulevard was closed for several hours yesterday during the investigation.
Traffic began moving through the area again Sunday evening.
The Record will continue to follow this investigation and provide updates as they are available.
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