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Shelburne police officer driving cruiser attacks and kills cyclist in South Burlington

Shelburne police officer driving cruiser attacks and kills cyclist in South Burlington

Shelburne Police car in front of the town police station. Photo: Gail Callahan/VTDigger

An on-duty Shelburne police officer driving a cruiser fatally struck a bicyclist in an early Monday morning crash in South Burlington, according to Vermont State Police.

The names of the officer and the cyclist “will be released as the investigation continues,” state police said in a press release Monday afternoon.

According to the statement, the accident occurred around 02.45 at night.

The Shelburne officer was driving a Ford Explorer SUV cruiser southbound on Route 7, also known as Shelburne Road, in the area of ​​Fayette Drive in South Burlington.

“The cruiser struck a southbound bicyclist who was pulling a trailer,” the statement said. “The cyclist, a man, was declared dead at the scene. At the time of the accident, the weather was rainy and dark, and the road was wet.”

According to the statement, the police officer was not injured in the accident.

South Burlington police initially responded to the crash, led the investigation and requested assistance from the Vermont State Police Crash Reconstruction Team around 3 a.m., according to the release. The team responded to the scene.

At noon Monday, the South Burlington Police Department asked state police to take over as lead law enforcement in the investigation, the statement said.

A crash reconstruction team and a detective from the state police’s criminal division are expected to investigate the crash, according to the statement.

Calls to the South Burlington and Shelburne police departments were not immediately returned Monday.