Video shows Vancouver police cruiser crashing into pedestrian

Surveillance video has surfaced of a police cruiser crashing into a man in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside this week, revealing the victim had been standing still for at least 10 seconds leading up to the collision.

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 horrific," said Vince Tao, a community organizer with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. "The speed at which the police officers just rammed the man is shocking."

That stretch of Hastings has a reduced speed limit of 30 km/h, something the City of Vancouver implemented after commissioning a study through VANDU on how to ensure pedestrian safety in the area.

It's unclear how fast the cruiser was going prior to the collision. The Vancouver Police Department did not answer when asked by CTV News if the officer behind the wheel was heading to an active crime scene. The vehicle did not have its emergency lights activated.

Tao questioned why the driver failed to stop, given the circumstances.

"The man who was struck by the VPD cruiser was just standing there. He was not acting erratically," said Tao. "It's obviously very disturbing that VPD constables are driving at that speed at night, that they aren't paying attention to the road."

Police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said the facts and circumstances surrounding the collision will be determined by B.C.'s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, which was notified of the crash.

"We trust this investigation will shed light what factors led to the collision, including the reason why the pedestrian was standing motionless in the middle of the road, why the officers did not see the person, the speed of the police vehicle, and other contributing factors," Addison told CTV News in an email.

VANDU has also accused the police who responded to the collision of acting aggressively with people at the scene, including first responders who were tending to the victim.

On Tuesday, police issued a statement alleging there were bystanders trying to "interfere with evidence at the collision scene by removing property that belonged to the man who had been struck."

Addison also noted Wednesday that VANDU had posted on social media in the aftermath of the collision saying the victim had died.

"They were later forced to delete that inaccurate information, and we’d ask that you carefully fact-check any other salacious allegations this group makes," he wrote.

In the Vancouver Police Department's initial statement on the crash, authorities indicated the pedestrian had been "walking" in the road.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Kevin Charach