B.C. police watchdog awaiting ‘forensic’ report in crash that injured 5

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. investigates a scene in Vancouver. (CTV News)

British Columbia’s police oversight agency says it is conducting interviews and awaiting forensic evidence after an RCMP officer was involved in a collision that injured five people, including the officer, in Richmond earlier this year.

The collision happened on July 7 at around 9:15 p.m., when the RCMP officer was driving eastbound on Williams Road and crashed into a Honda Ridgeline at the intersection with No. 4 Road.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. says the Honda driver—a man in his 50s—was injured in the collision, as were three bystanders, including a man and a woman in their 20s who were pedestrians in the intersection, and a man in his 50s who was standing in his yard.

All five people, including the RCMP officer, were taken to hospital for treatment of their injuries.

The two pedestrians were the most seriously injured in the crash, but all of the victims are now recovering at home, the IIO said in an update on the case Friday.

The police oversight agency says its investigators “are currently finishing interviews and awaiting specialized forensic reports from a third party” before completing their investigation.

“Investigators have also canvassed the area of the collision for witnesses and video,” the agency said in the statement, urging anyone who witnessed or recorded the incident to contact its witness reporting line.

The IIO investigates all police-related incidents that result in serious harm or death in B.C., whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing by police.