A Surrey police officer whose cruiser struck and killed an 18-year-old pedestrian Monday night was not dispatched to a call and did not have the vehicle's lights or siren on at the time, police say.
As a general rule, police officers are normally supposed to use lights or a siren whenever they are breaking the rules of the road, such as speeding, stopping in traffic or affecting a U-turn. Sometimes they are not used when the officer doesn't want suspects to know police are on the way.
Abbotsford police are still trying to determine the speed of the Surrey officer's car at the time of the accident and whether he was responding to a call even though he was not dispatched to it.
The cruiser was heading southbound on King George Boulevard about 9:40 p.m. Monday when it struck and killed an 18-year-old woman who was crossing at an unmarked area of the road.
The woman was taken to hospital, but died en route.
Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said all of the pre-collision actions of the woman and the RCMP officer are currently being investigated.
MacDonald said the officer had not been dispatched to a call.
"But as far as his actual status, his radio communications... if he indicated he was en route to something, we will have to determine that by dumping all of the data from all of those pieces of equipment in the car," MacDonald said.
The woman who was killed was not at an intersection or a marked crosswalk, MacDonald confirmed.
Police are not yet releasing her name, but say she was not known to police.
MacDonald said the scope of his investigation is unlimited.
"Wherever the evidence and wherever the facts lead us is where we'll go," MacDonald said. "Anything is possible when you're dealing with loss of life."
kdiakiw@surreyleader.com