A man was struck and killed by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident near the Station Ridge townhouses in Chemainus Sunday evening.
The suspect driver and vehicle left the scene prior to police arrival.
Lynn Irving, a resident of the complex, was returning home from dinner when he saw two vehicles with four-way flashers across the street from the entrance around 7:30 p.m.
“I went to pull in and there was a body laying there,” he said.
“I moved the car around, parked in front of the sign there. There was a woman there, she’d called 9-1-1.”
Irving said the woman was very distraught. Three or four cars came along Chemainus Road a short time later and he tried to slow them down until emergency personnel arrived.
The North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP, supported by the Chemainus Fire Department and BC Ambulance, responded.
Irving said he knew right away the man was deceased. A fireman arrived a short time later and a nurse, who got out and checked on him.
Irving wondered whether the man was trying to cross the street or exactly what he was doing that led to him being struck.
From others he talked to, Irving said it was possible the man was struck a second time after the initial impact that likely killed him. It was difficult to see him on the side of the road.
“It was dark there,” he said. “He was wearing dark clothing. It sounded like the guy who hit him was moving pretty good.
“I just saw him because I had to stop.”
Irving figured he got there only a couple of minutes after the man was hit. The man’s boots, he said, were about 20 feet away from the body in the middle of the snow.
Irving also saw pieces of a car fender and other debris at the scene.
Police canvassed residents of Station Ridge Monday morning for further witnesses to see if anyone heard or saw anything or had any video footage from security systems.
North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP and the BC Coroners Service are working alongside the Integrated Forensic Identification Services and Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service to determine all the circumstances leading up to the incident.
“Investigators are urging anyone who witnessed the incident, have dash cam footage or have information about this collision to contact the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP,” noted Corp. Chris Manseau, BC RCMP divisional media relations officer. “This is a busy section of road, and even though the weather wasn’t great, investigators feel there was enough traffic for someone to have seen or heard something that can assist the investigation.”
The name of the deceased was not released. The BC Coroners Service is investigating to determine how, where, when and by what means he came to his death.
The site where a man was struck and killed by a car Sunday night outside the Station Ridge townhouses in Chemainus is already marked by flowers. (Photo by Pete Cavanaugh)
