A 26-year-old Coquitlam man is dead and police are calling for witnesses to come forward after a major crash Tuesday morning in New Westminster.
Shortly before noon, Mark Holmes of Coquitlam was driving alone through a green light on East Columbia Street at the intersection of Holmes Street when a cement truck barrelled through a red light and hit Holmes' car, sending both vehicles tumbling down an embankment into Hume Park, police said.
The cement truck driver sustained minor injuries.
"When I looked up, I saw the truck somersaulting through the air. What I didn't see until later was there was a car underneath the truck," witness Ron Stephens, who was in Hume Park at the time, told CTV News.
Area resident Larry Hartwell said another witness told him the cement truck's brakes were smoking as it came down Holmes Street but New West police said the exact cause of the accident could take weeks to determine.
"Holmes [Street] is a big, long, very steep-graded hill and the cement truck is a heavy commercial vehicle," Sgt. Gary Weishaar told The Tri-City News Thursday. "So one can always speculate that brakes are involved and they very well may be."
Weishaar said police collision experts were in the process Thursday of taking apart the cement truck, starting with its air brakes, to determine a possible mechanical cause of the crash.
In the meantime, New West police are asking witnesses to the accident who have not yet spoken with investigators to come forward, especially those residents and motorists who may have rendered assistance to the injured drivers before first responders arrived.
"They were trying to help at the scene right after the collision happened and we're most interested in talking to them. Some of our witnesses had suggested that they had left prior to all the police and fire and ambulance attending and they might have some really valuable information that our investigators require."
- with files from Grant Granger