British Columbia’s police watchdog—the Independent Investigations Office (IIO)—is still sniffing out the details of a motorcycle crash last Thursday that snarled Hope’s through-town traffic for most of the day.
Shortly before 5 a.m., on May 16, Hope RCMP say they received a report of an in-progress break and enter at a mechanic shop in the 600 block Old Hope Princeton Way. At the same time, police say they were also advised of a suspicious man seen leaving the area on a motorcycle.
Within minutes, a police officer attended the scene and located who they believed to be the same “suspicious man” riding a motorcycle in the west bound lane of Old Hope Princeton Highway, however, the motorcycle operator failed to oblige the officer when they attempted to stop him and, instead, continued heading towards Water Avenue.
RELATED: IIO attends early morning motorcycle accident in Hope
A very short time later, RCMP were notified the same motorcycle had been subsequently involved in an incident at the intersection of Water Avenue and Old Hope Princeton Way.
“BC Emergency Health Services received a call at 4:56 a.m. for a motorcycle incident near Flood Hope Road and Highway 1,” said Shannon Miller, communications officer with BC Emergency Health Services (BC EHS).
Two paramedic crews and an air ambulance were dispatched to the scene, and one patient in serious condition was transported to hospital, where they were then airlifted to a regional facility with a higher-level of care, Miller added.
Shortly after the motorcycle operator was taken to hospital, the IIO arrived on the scene and shut down the intersection where Old Hope Princeton Road and Water Avenue meet and become the #3 Highway and Trans-Canada Highway, respectively. Then, for the entire morning and into the afternoon, the intersection was closed due to the investigation, which re-routed a significant portion of highway traffic through Hope’s downtown.
“I was in the (Hope Mountain Cafe) with (Victor Smith) when we saw the truck coming around the corner,” explained Mayor Peter Robb in front of District Hall on Thursday afternoon.
A truck hauling extra-long logs had been detoured through downtown, and when trying to turn from 3rd Avenue onto Wallace Street, its back axle gave way due to the tightness of the corner: its trailer then twisted and it was then in jeopardy of losing its load across the sidewalk and into nearby businesses.
RELATED: Logging traffic stops traffic in downtown Hope, closes sidewalk, and threatens nearby businesses
Robb says they heard a loud cracking sound and saw the back end of the truck’s trailer turn at an odd angle, so they alerted businesses of the possible danger, had any vehicles in the way moved, and closed down pedestrian access to the west sidewalk.
District staff attended the downtown incident promptly, and although traffic was snarled for sometime and needed to be manually directed, the truck was relieved of its load and towed away as quickly as possible.
After both the motorcycle accident and logging truck incident were cleared up and traffic began moving again, the IIO issued another press release stating the driver of the motorcycle had succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital, but there were no injuries to anyone else.
Following that, the independent investigation agency says it believes it’s identified a possible key witness to the motorcycle incident—somebody who stopped at the scene—and is asking that person to come forward as they may be able to provide valuable information to the investigation.
However, as the matter is now under investigation by the IIO B.C., no further information will be released by police, and anyone who witnessed this incident, or who may have dash-cam footage, is asked to contact the IIO witness line at 1-855-446-8477.
Hope RCMP are also continuing to investigate the original complaint.
