A cyclist died on Saturday afternoon after he was struck by a passenger vehicle in the northeast of Calgary, in a collision that police say appears to have started when the driver was suddenly taken ill behind the wheel. Officers with the Calgary Police Service were called to the scene just after 1:30 p.m. and confirmed that the man on the bicycle had been pronounced dead at the location.
According to the account relayed by CityNews Calgary, the crash unfolded near an intersection on 21st Avenue Northeast, in a residential part of the city. The vehicle involved was a Ford Escape, and investigators believe its driver lost control of the sport utility vehicle moments before it left the roadway and travelled toward the curb where the cyclist was riding.
The victim was a man in his 60s. Police said he was pronounced dead at the scene and that the bicycle he had been riding was struck directly by the vehicle. Emergency crews responded to the call within minutes, but the injuries the cyclist sustained were not survivable, and there was nothing responders could do to save his life once they arrived.
Investigators believe the driver, a man in his 70s, suffered a medical event that caused the vehicle to drift off its path. According to the police account, the Escape mounted the sidewalk and dragged the cyclist along before continuing forward, an indication of how quickly the situation escalated once the driver was no longer in control of the car.
After mounting the curb and striking the cyclist, the vehicle continued into the 21st Avenue Northeast intersection, where it collided with another vehicle that had been stopped at the junction. The secondary impact drew the second motorist into what had begun as a single crash, turning the scene into a multi-vehicle collision in a matter of seconds.
One person involved in the chain of events suffered minor injuries in the second collision, while the driver of the Ford Escape was taken to hospital in critical condition. Police described the medical emergency that the driver experienced as the likely trigger for the entire sequence, rather than any deliberate or reckless action behind the wheel.
Calgary police said that neither drugs, speed nor alcohol are believed to have been factors in the collision, though they cautioned that the investigation remains ongoing. Officers continued to gather information at the scene and appealed for anyone with details about the crash to come forward as they work to confirm exactly how the events on 21st Avenue Northeast unfolded.