Sep 26, 2008 - 11:06 AM
By Jennifer Stone
WHITBY -- An 87-year-old Pickering woman is dead after she was hit by a recycling truck contracted by Durham Region.
The accident happened at about 8:45 a.m. on Inverary Court, a quiet residential street off Tom Edwards drive in north Whitby, when a National Waste truck is believed to have hit the woman, said Durham Regional Police Sergeant Paul McCurbin.
A post-mortem has been ordered.
Police aren’t saying much at the moment as the investigation continues into the accident.
But residents, whose house the collision happened outside, say they believe the woman was house-sitting down the street and walking the homeowners’ dog when the accident took place.
The woman is not believed to be a Whitby resident.
“She’s minding the house and the little dog,” said Peter Sounbos, whose recycling bins sat empty beside the recycling truck that hit the woman. He indicated a residence near his own home as the one at which the woman was house-sitting.
The dog the woman was walking was temporarily in the care of another neighbour, Mr. Sounbos said.
He and his wife were in the house at the time of the accident. They received a call from a neighbour, who had seen the woman, and who had gone outside. In moments, he said, a nurse who lives nearby was administering CPR, emergency services personnel was on scene and the street had been blocked to traffic.
“We didn’t even hear it,” Helen Sounbos said. “We were right in the kitchen.”
With only about 20 feet between the driveways, Mrs. Sounbos said she couldn’t figure out how the accident could have happened.
“It’s hard to believe -- the truck was going so slow” between the houses, she said.
The 42-year-old driver of the truck was not injured. Alcohol and speed were not factors, said a police media release. Road conditions were good and traffic was moderate at the time.
The woman’s dog was not injured.
Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact Detective Constable Alan McDonald of the Traffic Services Branch Collision Investigation Unit at 905-579-1520, ext. 5213.
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