Vancouver police are investigating a video circulating online that appears to show a driver using their vehicle to push a pedestrian down the road.
The pedestrian, Mike (who did not want his last name used) was walking across the crosswalk at East 8th Avenue and Kingsway Thursday morning when he said a driver honked his horn and hit him.
He said the driver was waving his hands and yelling at him from behind the wheel.
“He was in a hurry and he seemed really aggravated,” Mike said. “As I was crossing, he stopped and then he hit me. Once we made contact I needed to get his information.”
So that’s when Mike pulled out his phone and tried to take a picture of the licence plate.
“But that’s when he started accelerating and I had to backstep him down the block to avoid getting pulled underneath the vehicle,” he said. “I didn’t know what my next move was but that was my immediate intuition to avoid getting hurt.”
Mike said he finally did get a photo of the licence plate and then the driver pulled around him and blew through the red light, driving away.
“I was just acting on impulse, I didn’t know what to do.”
The incident was captured on video and shared with Global News.
Kate Metten, a local artist, witnessed the incident. She and a friend were sitting outside Budgie’s Burritos when they heard a smacking sound.
“We heard it and looked up and saw the car bouncing off of him,” she told Global News. “And then he froze in shock and said ‘I need your information’.”
Metten said the driver of the car was yelling and she started recording the incident on video.
“I saw the driver push him. He had to run back as he was pushing him down the street. It could have been fatal.”
Metten said the crosswalk is really dangerous and she has seen a lot of accidents at the location.
“I was afraid (Mike) would get sucked under the car and driven over,” she added.
Mike said he is doing OK now but he is anxious about crossing at the crosswalk again.
“It was my everyday routine but now, when I cross this crosswalk, I do it with extra caution,” he told Global News.
“When I see cars go by, I just have this inner feeling of ‘I have to be extra careful and it could be potentially dangerous just stepping on the road.”
Metten would like the City of Vancouver to take the matter seriously and install lights or do something to make the intersection safer.
The city has sent residents in the area an email to say the intersection is on the list to get a pedestrian light but it is just one of more than 30 crosswalks that need an upgrade in the city.
-with files from Rumina Daya