FILE PHOTO

(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)

A 35-year-old man has died after he crashed a pickup truck, he had allegedly just stolen, into the back of a parked semi on Highway 3 south of Princeton.

According to a Penticton South Okanagan Similkameen RCMP media release, police received a report shortly after 7 a.m. Nov. 4 about a stolen pickup truck in Coalmont, northwest of Princeton.

The owner of the truck had left the vehicle running in their driveway before then seeing the vehicle leave the property. The owner followed the truck in another vehicle but lost sight of the stolen truck in downtown Princeton.

Police continued to search for the stolen vehicle when they received a report that the truck had rear-ended a commercial tractor-trailer parked near the Sunday Summit brake check on Highway 3.

A 35-year-old man, with no fixed address who was known to police in the South Okanagan, was found dead in the driver's seat of the stolen truck.

"Witnesses reported seeing the truck driving at excessive speed on Highway 3 and not being followed by any other vehicle prior to the collision," Penticton South Okanagan RCMP Sgt. Jason Bayda said in the release.

Police say speed and dangerous driving are believed to be contributing factors in the crash.

Princeton RCMP and the RCMP South Okanagan Traffic Services Reconstruction Analyst are investigating the vehicle theft and the man's death. The B.C. Coroners Service is also conducting an independent and investigation.

Police say due to the privacy of the deceased it has not released the deceased man's name.

— This story was corrected 10:24 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, to say the man who was killed had no fixed address.

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