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The driver of the vehicle believed to be involved in a fatal hit-and-run in Surrey had been working with Mounties just hours earlier on a recreation of a crash that killed a young constable last year.

Surrey RCMP announced the bizarre twist late Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after it located the suspect vehicle, and requested an independent observer from another police force to monitor the investigation.

Around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, an eastbound semi-truck without a trailer struck a lone male walking in the 19500-block of the Langley Bypass. The vehicle did not stop and the 37-year-old pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Surrey RCMP.

Police located the vehicle later in the day and questioned the driver, whom Mounties described in a statement as "an expert civilian witness and consultant who is contracted by law enforcement and other public safety agencies throughout the region."

"In fact," the statement continued, "earlier that day and prior to the accident occurring, this consultant was working with the Surrey RCMP traffic section on an ongoing traffic investigation."

Sergeant Drew Grainger confirmed the investigation was that involving Constable Adrian Oliver, who died in a car crash in Surrey on Nov. 13, 2012. Constable Oliver was on duty and returning to the Surrey RCMP detachment when his unmarked police car collided with a large semi-trailer truck at the intersection of 148 th Street and 64 th Avenue.

A regimental funeral was held for Constable Oliver on Nov. 20, 2012.

Sergeant Grainger said it is too early to know whether speed and/or alcohol were involved in Wednesday's collision, but "on the surface, it does not appear that alcohol is a factor."

Police are now working with the B.C. Coroners Service to identify the pedestrian's next-of-kin.

Anyone with information about Wednesday's accident is asked to contact Surrey RCMP Traffic Services at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

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