A man was taken to hospital with serious injuries following a police shooting in Duncan, B.C., on Tuesday evening.
Around 9:15 p.m., the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP say they received a report that a man appeared to be impaired while driving a skid-steer loader on a residential street.
Parkside Place in Duncan, B.C., is pictured on March 29, 2023. (CTV News)
Police say they tracked down the construction vehicle and tried to get the driver to stop, but were unable to do so.
Mounties say there were “several collisions” between the skid-steer and police cruisers during the incident.
A witness tells CTV News that police were ramming and chasing the vehicle along Somenos Road near Evans Park around 9:40 p.m.
The witness adds that the construction vehicle could be heard driving around the neighbourhood before police arrived.
“During the interaction that followed, one officer discharged their weapon, striking the driver,” said RCMP in a release Wednesday.
“Emergency Health Services were called and the man was transported to hospital with serious injuries.”
The construction vehicle is pictured. (CTV News)
Mounties contacted the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of B.C. following the shooting.
The IIO confirmed it has deployed a team to the Duncan area to review the police-involved shooting.
“It is reported that there was contact between the loader and police vehicles. An interaction followed, and shots were fired by police,” the IIO said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“The man was transported to a hospital for treatment of a serious, life-threatening injury.”
The construction vehicle is pictured. (CTV News)
The IIO is called whenever a police-involved incident results in serious harm or death, regardless of if there have been allegations of wrongdoing.
The RCMP say they will not release further information on the incident since it is now under review by the IIO.
The IIO is asking anyone with information or video of the incident to contact the organization’s witness line at 1-855-446-8477 or use the contact form on the iiobc.ca website
