The provinces independent Serious Incident Response Team released its report regarding their investigation into the circumstances surrounding a fatal collision in Antigonish County.
On the evening of April 27th, the Antigonish County District RCMP responded to a report of a man who was walking on Highway 104 possibly into traffic. While conducing patrols of the area, an RCMP officer struck the pedestrian with their police cruiser.
The SiRT investigation revealed that the pedestrian was already deceased before he was hit by the officer. Investigators determined that just before the officer struck the pedestrian, the driver of an 18-Wheeler heard a bang and though he hit a deer. The next morning after hearing about a fatality on the highway the driver reported the incident to the police and DNA collected on the grill of the truck belonged to the victim.
The report concluded that the two incidents were not related and there are no grounds to charge the RCMP officer involved. The truck driver also escaped charges due to the victim’s death being accidental.
