Pedestrian killed in collision with Colorado Springs police SUV near downtown

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - A Colorado Springs police officer hit and killed a pedestrian who was crossing a street south of downtown Colorado Springs late Tuesday night.

“We had an officer that was driving northbound on Nevada, and a pedestrian walked in front of the officer, and the officer struck the pedestrian and the pedestrian died,” Lt. Joel Kern told 11 News.

First responders attempted life-saving measures but were unable to save the pedestrian, who later died at an area hospital.

The deadly collision happened near the intersection with Las Vegas, an area police say is well-known for people darting into the roadway at all hours day and night. The area has a convenience store, a homeless shelter and numerous homeless camps nearby, all of which create a lot of foot traffic.

Kern says several factors remain under investigation, including whether the officer saw the pedestrian before the collision and whether the officer was traveling at the 35 mph speed limit. Witnesses told police the victim was pushing a bike across the road against the traffic light and was not in a crosswalk.

“Generally, the pedestrian has the right of way, but in protected conditions like crossing at a crosswalk with a light, that kind of stuff. But if you just walk out in front of cars, traveling at speeds -- and this area is notorious for those crashes,” Kern said.

The officer was in a marked patrol car but was not heading to a call when the crash occurred. They were uninjured.

Kern said the police department would give the officer the time and support they needed to deal with what happened but couldn’t answer whether the officer would placed on any kind of leave.

Neither the officer involved or pedestrian have been identified at this time.

We will continue to update this article as we learn more.

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