Fatal crash occurred after driver failed to stop for police in B.C. Interior, IIO says

Investigators from B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office are seen in this provided image.

One of B.C.'s police oversight agencies has been called after an attempted traffic stop and subsequent fatal collision in the provincial Interior.

The incident occurred around 3 p.m. Monday when an officer with the Nakusp RCMP spotted a suspected stolen vehicle on Highway 6 south of the village.

"The officer attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle reportedly accelerated before driving off the road into the ditch," reads a statement from B.C. RCMP about the incident.

Paramedics responded and took a passenger to hospital, but the driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. – which looks into incidents involving police in the province that result in death or serious harm to a member of the public – has been called to investigate. In its own statement on the incident, it provided some additional details about what happened.

According to the IIO, the reportedly stolen vehicle was a green, 2003 Ford F350 pickup truck, and the officer spotted it about a kilometre south of Nakusp.

The deceased driver was a man, while his passenger was a woman, the IIO said. She was arrested before being transported to hospital, and has since been released.

The IIO will work to determine what role, if any, police action or inaction played in the single-vehicle collision that led to the man's death. It's asking anyone who witnessed the incident and has not already provided a statement to reach out to investigators by calling 1-855-446-8477 or using the contact form on the IIO website.

The office is called for all cases involving police officers that result in death or serious harm in B.C., regardless of whether there is any allegation of wrongdoing on the part of police.