Thursday night, the accident shut down a stretch of highway in northern B.C. for several hours
The police watchdog for the province of British Columbia says it is looking into the death of a man on a highway near Prince George on Thursday.
The Independent Investigations Office (IIO), which investigates when someone is killed or seriously hurt after interacting with police in the province, said that around 4:45 p.m., Prince George RCMP received a report of a man who was having a mental health crisis.
The man was found in a car south of the scales on Highway 97, and officers surrounded the scene and stopped traffic on the highway.
An IIO statement says, “The man and the police had a conversation outside of the car, which led to the officer firing his gun.”
“The man was shot, and the police took care of him until the Emergency Health Services got there.”
IIO said that he later died from his injuries and that it is now looking into what the police did.
The highway has reopened, but only one lane is open at a time. There may be traffic jams all night.
A DriveBC update posted just before 7 p.m. Thursday said that the highway was closed between 15 Mile Road and Reeves Drive.
On the stretch of highway south of Prince George that leads to Quesnel, there was a line of about 100 cars. No alternative route was available.