Man dies after being hit by three vehicles

A man who may have been trying to seek help for a broken-down car died when he was struck by three vehicles near Strathmore early Monday, say RCMP.

Strathmore RCMP officers responded shortly after 2 a.m. to a fatal collision in the eastbound lanes of the Trans-canada Highway west of Highway 24.

An unidentified man was hit by three vehicles while walking in one of the driving lanes on the highway, said Sgt. Bryan Reilly.

The driver of one of the vehicles, a semi, called 911 and stayed at the scene. The body was hit by two more vehicles before authorities arrived. The driver of a van pulled over and waited for police, a pickup truck kept going.

RCMP are now seeking the driver of that pickup truck.

“We’re not looking for any charges against that person,” Reilly said, adding no charges are being considered against any of the drivers at this time.

He said it’s possible the pickup driver was aware that he or she had struck some- thing, but didn’t realize it was a human.

An unoccupied car was found nearby and police are trying to confirm whether it belonged to the deceased and whether he was walking to seek help for the car when he was hit, Reilly said.

“We believe (the car) was broken-down,” Reilly said, adding the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Traffic was diverted as a portion of Highway 1 east was closed for about five hours.

Reilly said there are no lights on that stretch of highway, no nearby homes or businesses, and “not a whole lot of traffic” in the area, but he urged anyone with information about the incident to contact police or Crime Stoppers.