A woman found lying on a Toronto road was pronounced dead early Tuesday after she was discovered by the driver of a TTC vehicle that struck her, police say.
Toronto police Insp. Roger Caracciolo said officers were called at around 1:25 a.m. to the area of Lansdowne and Lappin avenues, south of Dupont Street.
Caracciolo said a TTC service vehicle was travelling south on Lansdowne when the driver came across what they believed was a bag in the middle of the roadway.
The vehicle swerved out of the way but struck the object “a little bit,” he said.
“It didn’t feel right at that time, so as they passed they immediately did a U-turn and came back to the area and saw what they believed was a body,” Caracciolo said.
“Toronto police were called. Officers from the local division, 11 Division, attended the scene and confirmed it was in fact a female, adult female, that was struck on the roadway.”
Police said a woman, believed to be in her early 40s, crossed the street. Once in the middle of the road, she lay down, officers said.
“The woman noticed the approaching truck and at the last moment attempted to roll into the adjacent lane,” a police media release said.
Officers attempted life-saving measures but she died at the scene.
Caracciolo said the woman was a pedestrian, who is believed to be “known from the area.”
She has not been identified pending notification of next of kin.
The woman’s cause of death is still unknown, and it’s not clear if she was already injured before being struck by the TTC vehicle.
Caracciolo said it appears that her “substantive injuries … came from being struck by the motor vehicle in the roadway.”
The Toronto police Traffic Services Unit is investigating.