Red Deer RCMP are looking for a hit and run driver after a man was found lying fatally injured on Taylor Drive bridge early Saturday.
Police say the man was found about 2:05 a.m. lying in the northbound lanes on the bridge. He had been fatally injured after being struck by a car, said police.
“The suspect vehicle and driver did not remain at the scene of the collision and evidence at the scene indicated that the vehicle has sustained significant front-end damage,” says a release from Cpl. John Babbitt.
RCMP Sgt. Jim Moran said an autopsy is expected to be performed in Calgary on Tuesday.
Moran couldn’t provide any more details about what may have happened or whether he was believed to have been alone at the time of the collision.
Police expected to release more information on Tuesday.
Marrian Bertin, of Castor, said the victim was her 18-year-old grandson Paul Gabriel Bertin.
He had recently moved to Red Deer and was living with two of his five brothers and had just started working in a fencing business with them.
Marrian said her grandson, who also has a sister, was raised and home schooled on an acreage about 50 km south of Botha.
“They’re all very creative,” she said of Paul and his siblings, “But he had something very special.
“He was very smart. He was good in math he had a future ahead of him.
“He had just started his first serious job.”
The teen, who sported a green mohawk, and played guitar and piano, was well liked by all, she said.
“He was fun to be around. Everybody who knew him liked him.”
Paul was killed only a couple of blocks from home. His brothers had not been with him the night of the collision, she said.
Marrian said police have told them the vehicle believed to have been involved has been found but the family knows little else about what happened that night.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com