91-year-old dies in Burnaby after being hit by cabin scooter

Police are appealing for witnesses after Julio Chavez, a 91-year-old Burnaby man, was struck and killed by a motorized scooter.

The entire incident was captured on a convenience store security camera on September 11, at the corner of Edmonds Street and Mary Avenue. Chavez leaves the store, gets to the corner and prepares to cross the street.

It’s then that a woman driving a blue cabin scooter hits Chavez on the sidewalk.

His head hit the pavement hard, and while witnesses and a nearby police officer quickly rushed over to help, Chavez died of his injuries the next day.

Cabin scooters are self-contained motorized vehicles, which can reach speeds of 11 kilometres per hour.

Chavez’s family is sharing the surveillance video of his death in hopes of changing the rules around how these scooters can be used.

“It looks like a small car. It’s completely enclosed, it’s got windshield wipers, it’s got doors. Quite frankly I think they go too fast to be travelling on public walkways,” said Alex Osorio Jr., his grandson.

“As far as I’m concerned, these should be a motor vehicle.”

While Burnaby RCMP are asking any witnesses to contact them to help in their investigation, the Chavez family grieves.

“Anybody he saw in trouble he would try and help out to the best of his ability, said Osorio Jr.

“He loved everybody, and to him, everybody loved was family.”

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