Vernon RCMP

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - An investigation is underway following a crash on Highway 6 near Vernon involving a police vehicle and a motorcycle.

The collision happened at around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, about eight kilometres east of Vernon on Highway 6, according to a media release from the RCMP.

The people on the motorcycle, a 46-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, both from Kelowna, were transported to Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening, RCMP say.

The police officer was not injured.

The highway was shut down temporarily so the scene could be examined by a RCMP crash reconstructionist.

“Due to the civilian injuries and provisions of the B.C. Police Act, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. were notified and are assessing. The circumstances of the accident remain under investigation,” Cpl. Dave Tyreman said.

The release does not comment on the cause of the collision.

The Independent Investigations Office is mandated to investigate police-related incidents of death or serious harm in order to determine whether or not an officer may have committed an offence, according to spokesperson Marten Youssef.

Youseff confirms the investigations office has been notified of the Vernon incident, and says it will be assessing the crash over the next week to determine if an investigation is required.

If investigators determine there was no death or serious harm, or that the incident was not connected to an officer’s actions, the case will be released back into the jurisdiction of the RCMP, Youseff says.

Police are required to notify the investigations office whenever there is an officer-involved incident. Of hundreds of notifications received each year, Youseff says the office only continues investigations in roughly 25 per cent of cases.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to get in touch with the office.

“If there is information any member of the public may have on a particular Independent Investigations Office investigation, they’re encouraged to call the IIO witness line,” Youseff says.

That number is 1-855-446-8477.

— This story was updated at 12:15 p.m. Aug. 8, 2016 to include information from Marten Youseff. 

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2016