Hit-and-run suspect wanted after Vancouver crashes leave 2 people hurt
Posted November 8, 2023 9:28 am.
Last Updated November 8, 2023 9:02 pm.
Two people are hurt and the search is on for a driver after a pair of hit and runs in Vancouver Wednesday morning.
Vancouver police say it started when officers tried to stop a Dodge Durango around 7:30 a.m. on Burrard Street, near Canada Place.
Const. Tania Visintin tells CityNews it’s alleged the driver then hit a pedestrian in the area of Howe and West Hastings streets shortly after, before continuing to escape from police.
“That same vehicle continued to flee, colliding into another vehicle near Robson and Cambie,” Visintin explained, adding the driver remains missing.
In total, two women, one in her 30s and the other in her 50s, were taken to the hospital. Both people have non-life-threatening injuries, Visintin adds.
“One was a pedestrian and one was in a vehicle,” she said.
A witness tells CityNews shortly before the incident near Howe and West Hasting, they saw a car driving erratically, nearly hitting several people in the process. That person says they saw the vehicle head down an alley with a police car in pursuit.
It’s unclear why the driver fled from police initially, and why officers were trying to stop the vehicle.
The province’s police oversight body, the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO), has been called in to investigate, since the crashes happened after an attempted traffic stop.
The oversight body is called in to investigate all police-related matters that include serious injury or death of civilians and those in custody. It investigates whether action or inaction by police contributed to the incident.
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–With files from Srushti Gangdev
