A man rescued from the mangled wreckage of a weekend crash on Goldstream Heights Drive is believed to be the same man involved in the fatal collision that took the life of West Shore RCMP Const. Sarah Beckett, sources say.
Malahat Fire chief Rob Patterson was asked to assist at a “horrendous crash” near the intersection of Goldstream Heights Drive and Finlayson View Place at 1 a.m. Sunday.
“B.C. Ambulance Service needed the jaws of life to free somebody who was stuck in a vehicle, so we responded,” Patterson said Tuesday. “There were about eight or nine of us all together.”
When they arrived, a woman was lying on the ground receiving medical attention from paramedics.
The firefighters cut the roof off the truck and freed the injured man trapped inside.
“He looked like he was in pretty serious shape,” said Patterson. “He had a substantial opening on the top of his head. He’d impacted something quite heavily.”
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Later, one of the police officers at the scene sent an update to Patterson telling him the injured man might be the individual who was involved in the April 5 collision.
“It might be him. I’ve never seen him before. I went to Const. Beckett’s funeral, but I have no idea what he looks like,” said Patterson.
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The regimental funeral service for Const. Sarah Beckett in Colwood, B.C. on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
The chief heard that both the man and the woman are expected to survive and make full recoveries. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. deployed its investigators after learning that West Shore RCMP officers were involved in the incident, says a press release.
The RCMP responded to a request for assistance from ambulance paramedics at 12:50 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived at the call, a truck left the area.
According to police, they tried to pull over the truck for a road check, but it did not stop. The truck was found after it rolled over, injuring two people.
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West Shore RCMP Const. Sarah Beckett, 32, died Tuesday, April 5, 2016 in an early-morning crash in Langford on Vancouver Island.
“The initial focus of the IIO investigation will be to determine if there is a connection between the injuries of the affected person and actions or inactions of police,” says the release.
A spokesman for West Shore RCMP said he had no information whatsoever on the crash.
This latest incident has opened fresh wounds for officers still grieving the loss of Beckett, a 32-year-old mother of two who died April 5 when her car was struck in the intersection of Peatt Road and Goldstream Avenue.
The IIO began investigating the fatal crash after learning that police tried to stop a pickup minutes before it struck Beckett’s police cruiser. The driver of the pickup was taken into custody and released the next day without being charged.
A criminal investigation into the fatal crash is being led by the RCMP Island District General Investigations Section.
The Saanich Police Department has now completed its analysis of the fatal collision, Sgt. Julie Fast said Tuesday.
“It’s basically the reconstruction of the dynamics of the crash, how the vehicles came to be in contact,” Fast said. “Our crash analysts from the traffic safety unit have completed their report and it was forwarded to the RCMP last week.”
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