An 11-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he was struck by a police van in Lancaster.
Lancashire police said they were attending an emergency call on Thursday night when the collision occurred with the boy, who was crossing Owen Road just before 8.30pm.
The boy was taken to Royal Lancaster Infirmary in a critical condition.
A police spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the child’s loved ones at this time.
“An investigation is under way to establish the full circumstances that led to the collision. We have voluntarily referred this matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), as is standard with an incident of this nature.”
The IOPC said it had declared an independent investigation into the actions of police before the collision.
“We understand that a marked police van, with its lights and sirens on, was in a collision with an 11-year-old boy,” it said in a statement.
“We were notified by the force shortly after the collision and declared an investigation at 10.37pm. IOPC investigators are heading to the scene and the police post-incident procedure to begin gathering information.”
The IOPC was in the early stages of its investigation, it said.
