**** SiRT Media Release
RCMP Officer Not Responsible for Antigonish Fatality
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The province’s independent Serious Incident Response Team released its report today regarding its investigation into the circumstances surrounding a fatal collision in Antigonish County on the evening of April 27, 2022.
At approximately 10:35 p.m. on April 27, Antigonish County District RCMP responded to a report of a man who was walking on the 104 Highway, possibly into traffic. While conducting patrols of the area to search for the pedestrian, an RCMP officer struck the pedestrian with their police vehicle.
The SiRT investigation revealed that the pedestrian was deceased when the RCMP officer struck him. Investigators determined that just before the officer struck the pedestrian, the driver of an 18-wheel truck, who was heading westbound on Highway 104 had heard a bang and thought he had just struck a deer in the middle of the road. After this striking, the driver noted the vehicles behind him did not swerve to avoid anything on the road.
The next morning, after hearing about the fatality on the highway, the truck driver feared that what he thought was a deer may be the man. The driver reported the incident to the police. DNA collected from the grill of the truck confirmed it was the man.
The events that unfolded on the night of April 27, 2022 were indeed tragic and impacted many individuals. However, the investigation revealed that the two incidents were not related and therefore, there are no grounds for any charges against the RCMP officer.
The full report is available at http://sirt.novascotia.ca.
