A young man was seriously injured when he was struck by a driver in a crosswalk on Sunday night in Sackville. Sergeant Eric Hanson of the Sackville RCMP says that the young man was transported to hospital in Moncton, and that his injuries are not life threatening.
Hanson says the driver of the vehicle was not hurt, and that alcohol was not a factor in the crash. “We are continuing our investigation,” said Hanson on Monday, “including doing a mechanical inspection of the vehicle that was involved in the collision.”
The young man was crossing Main Street at King, in a marked crosswalk with warning lights flashing as he crossed, said Hanson. It’s not clear how fast the car was going when the collision happened.
As of Monday afternoon, no one had been charged. “It’s too early to say as to whether any charges would be considered,” said Hanson.
The first to arrive on the scene of the collision were the Sackville Fire Department, with Ambulance New Brunswick and the RMCP arriving about 30 minutes after the collision, according to witnesses on the scene.
Sackville Fire Chief Chief Craig Bowser deferred CHMA’s request for information on the incident to the RCMP.
CHMA has reached out to Medavie for information on the response time of the ambulance, and have yet to hear back. According to police scanner monitors, there was no Rapid Response Unit available to come to the scene.
Ambulance NB paramedics took the man to hospital in Moncton for treatment, as the Sackville emergency department (ED) had already closed down for the day. For just over a year now, the Sackville ED has been open just 8 hours a day, from 8am to 4pm daily.
Sackville resident Ron Kelly Spurles came upon the scene of the collision shortly after it happened. Kelly Spurles stopped to offer a hand at the scene, and then later left to bring his kids home. Upon his return, Kelly Spurles was surprised to find that the ambulance had not yet arrived. Based on his previous experience with ambulances in Sackville, he was expecting one to arrive within minutes.
“I was quite surprised that it took such a long time. And when I came back, I totally thought there’d be an ambulance there,” said Kelly Spurles.
Another Sackville resident was also surprised and disappointed in the length of time it took for Ambulance NB and the RCMP to arrive at the scene. Ashton Pinaud says the Sackville Fire Department were much faster, but that the crew was limited in what it could do.
“For what they could do, I found that they did a really good job,” says Pinaud. “It’s just really sad to see that it took so long for an ambulance and the RCMP to show up, especially when it was a pedestrian that was hit by a vehicle.”
Sergeant Eric Hanson says the mechanical inspection and witness interviews will be completed as soon as possible.
“We still have some interviews to conduct,” said Hanson. “We’re still unclear as to exactly why the vehicle struck the pedestrian. The identity of everyone involved is known and there’s still some follow up that we’re doing [Monday and Tuesday] with some witnesses.”
Victim was a Mount Allison student
In a letter to students Monday, Mount Allison president Jean Paul Boudreau said the pedestrian victim of the collision was a Mount Allison student. He said university staff, “have been in contact with the student’s family and will be working to support both them and the campus community during this difficult time.”
The university offered drop-in counselling for students on Monday and says students can contact the Student Wellness department to seek campus services, or contact a counsellor covered under the student union health plan.
