Raleigh police officer put on leave after pedestrian killed in Capital Blvd. crash

The Raleigh Police Department has put one of its officers on administrative leave after the officer hit and killed a pedestrian who was crossing Capital Boulevard late Monday night.

The officer was heading southbound on Capital at about 10:50 p.m. when the marked police vehicle hit Pedro Lopez just south of Calvary Drive, according to the police department. Lopez, 51, was taken to a hospital where he died.

Police have not released the officer’s name. The department’s Internal Affairs Unit is investigating the officer’s actions. Crash investigators are also working to determine if the officer violated the law in any way.

The crash happened just north of where Louisburg Road splits from Capital Boulevard. This area is especially dangerous for pedestrians; five people were hit and killed last year along a one-mile stretch of Capital just north of the split, and one more was killed trying to cross at Calvary earlier this year.

The city and the N.C. Department of Transportation hope to make the intersection safer for pedestrians. NCDOT says it will soon use a combination of paint, hard plastic posts and curb extensions to shorten the length of the crosswalks and force cars to make sharper right turns, which it says should provide more protection for pedestrians.

But few pedestrian fatalities take place at intersections, where improvements to crosswalks might make a difference. Of the 27 people killed while walking in Raleigh last year, only four were at intersections, only two of which had crosswalks with signals.

Police say Lopez was not in a crosswalk when he was hit. The speed limit on this stretch of Capital is 45 mph.

This story was originally published August 15, 2023 at 8:54 AM.