The disturbing video shows the pedestrian hunched over and motionless in the middle of East Hastings Street early Tuesday morning when the police vehicle violently knocks him off his feet. The pedestrian was seriously injured and remained in hospital as of Wednesday afternoon. “It’s horrible,” said Vince Tao, a community organizer with the Vancouver Area Drug Users Network. “The speed with which the officers just hit the man is shocking.” This section of Hastings has a reduced speed limit of 30 km/h, which the City of Vancouver implemented after commissioning a study through VANDU on how to ensure pedestrian safety in the area. It is unclear how fast the cruiser was going before the collision. The Vancouver Police Department did not respond when asked by CTV News if the officer behind the wheel was headed to an active crime scene. The vehicle did not have its emergency lights on. Tao wondered why the driver didn’t stop given the conditions. “The man that was hit by the VPD cruiser was just standing there. He wasn’t acting erratically,” Tao said. “It’s obviously very concerning that VPD officers are driving at this speed at night, not paying attention to the road.” Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Addison said the facts and circumstances surrounding the crash will be determined by the BC Police Independent Investigations Office, which was briefed on the crash. “We believe this investigation will shed light on the factors that led to the collision, including why the pedestrian was standing still in the middle of the road, why the officers did not see the person, the speed of the police vehicle and other factors,” he said. Addison to CTV News in an email. VANDU also accused police who responded to the crash of acting aggressively with people at the scene, including first responders who were tending to the victim. On Tuesday, police issued a statement saying there were bystanders trying to “interfere with evidence at the scene of the collision by removing property belonging to the man who was struck.” Addison also noted Wednesday that VANDU had posted on social media after the collision saying the victim had died. “They were later forced to delete this inaccurate information and we would ask you to carefully review any other rude claims made by this group,” he wrote. In the Vancouver Police Department’s initial statement about the collision, authorities said the pedestrian was “walking” in the street. With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kevin Charach
