The elderly woman who was struck and killed while riding her scooter during a three-vehicle crash in Port Moody Tuesday afternoon has been identified as Betty Pleshko.
The 71-year-old was crossing the street at Ungless Way and Ioco Road at around 3:20 p.m. when a southbound flatbed truck struck a car and an SUV that were waiting at the intersection. The large commercial vehicle overturned, hitting Pleshko.
"The truck ultimately collided with two vehicles parked side-by-side at the traffic light," said Port Moody Police Department Insp. Ken MacDonald. "After colliding with the vehicles it flipped and subsequently struck the female."
MacDonald said it is still too early to say what caused the crash and accident reconstruction experts continue to investigate.
However, he told The Tri-City News that police have seized the truck involved in the crash and are looking closely at the condition of the vehicle's brakes. He added that a witness told investigators that the flatbed's brakes were smoking as it came down Heritage Mountain and approached the intersection.
"We are considering -just considering - the possibility of a brake failure," he said. "That is based on a witness having seen the brakes smoking prior to the collision. I can't say that our investigators have determined that yet."
Pleshko was traveling back to her home after shopping with her daughter at Thrifty's in Suterbrook when the crash occurred. The daughter, MacDonald said, was about 300 feet behind her mother at the time of the collision and was not injured.
The driver of the flatbed was taken to hospital with a concussion and a leg injury, while the person behind the wheel of the SUV was taken to hospital with neck and back pain. Another victim who was driving a Toyota Celica suffered a concussion and a broken ankle.
The crash led to the closure of the intersection for the Tuesday afternoon commute.
"We did our best to get traffic people and a system in place," said Port Moody's civic engagement manager Dave Teixeira. "The commute was definitely slower than normal."
The intersection remained closed for about 15 hours while accident investigators conducted their work. By 6:15 a.m., he said, the road was re-opened and Wednesday morning's commute occurred without incident.
Teixeira added that a lamp post and traffic control box was demolished in the accident.
-with files from CTV News
