A male pedestrian is in life-threatening condition after he was struck by a vehicle in the city’s Fashion District on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident took place in the area of Richmond Street West and Augusta Avenue at around 3 p.m.
The vehicle involved in the crash appears to be a waste removal truck.
“The pedestrian was on the roadway when he was struck by a moving, heavy vehicle in the area,” Sgt. Murray Campbell said while speaking with reporters at the scene. “He sustained some serious injuries and was transported via emergency run to St. Michael’s Hospital where he remains in life-threatening condition.”
Campbell said Richmond Street West has no traffic control in the area.
“There are no traffic lights or stop signs so it appears that the pedestrian was on the roadway attempting to cross,” he said. “There is no control for pedestrians to cross at this intersection at all so somehow the pedestrian ended up on the roadway and was struck by a vehicle that was going through the intersection and that intersection for vehicles is not controlled either.”
The collision caused a significant traffic backlog as the evening rush hour commenced.
“We’re going to move the vehicle onto the side street onto Augusta here to conduct a full mechanical inspection of the vehicle to see if there is any mechanical defects that might have caused this collision,” Campbell said.
A drone was being used as investigators reconstructed the scene of the crash and Campbell said it was helping immensely.
“Instead of painstakingly mapping out every point of the intersection, we can use the drone to do that digitally and take pictures of the scene as well,” he said. “We are getting better quality investigations done, gathering evidence quicker and getting the roads open quicker.”
Campbell said several people in the area witnessed the crash and investigators are in the process of taking down their accounts.
No charges have been laid thus far and the exact circumstances that led to the collision are not yet known.
Roads have been blocked off in the area as the investigation continues.
