The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said it has been called in to investigate the death of a 41-year-old pedestrian who was reportedly walking down the middle of a northern Alberta highway early Sunday morning.
According to ASIRT, an RCMP officer was dispatched to Highway 881, about 75 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, around 1:15 a.m. Sunday after Mounties were called about a man walking southbound in the middle of the road. RCMP then received another call reporting a male pedestrian had been hit by a pickup truck on the highway.
READ MORE: Wood Buffalo RCMP investigate after pedestrian killed on Highway 881
In a news release, ASIRT said the responding officer was alerted to the collision and “approached northbound on Highway 881 near marker 251 with emergency equipment activated and came upon several vehicles pulled over.”
As the officer drove past the vehicles, ASIRT said their vehicle hit the hand of a man standing on the road. The police watchdog also said it is looking into “whether the 41-year-old injured pedestrian lying on the roadway, who died on scene, was also struck by the police vehicle.”
ASIRT told Global News the man hit in the hand and the man who died are two different people.
According to ASIRT, the people in the vehicle that “first struck the pedestrian” pulled over and reported the collision and also tried to perform first aid on the man. Several other vehicles also stopped to help, including a large commercial vehicle.
ASIRT is now asking the public to help them find the driver of the commercial vehicle who they say may have witnessed some of what took place. They are also calling for any other witnesses who have information to contact ASIRT investigators at (780) 644-1483.
ASIRT is called on to investigate incidents involving Alberta law enforcement officers in which someone is injured or killed as well as to look into serious allegations of police misconduct.
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