A POLICE officer is set to appear in court charged with causing the death of a woman as she crossed a road.
PC Jamie Hamill, 32, is alleged to have struck and fatally injured Margaret McCarron, 58, in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.
He is said to have been driving a marked Ford Transit police van at the time of the incident.
Prosecutors claim Hamill was a ‘basic driver’ and had not completed the ‘requisite further driving training‘ from Police Scotland that authorises officers to activate blue lights to ‘facilitate process’ and travel at speeds ‘in excess’ of limits.
Hamill is alleged to have activated the blue lights on the van and caused other vehicles to pull over or stop.
He is said to have travelled at speeds of ‘up to’ 52mph in a 30mph zone and failed to maintain ‘proper observations’ and failed to observe McCarron.
Hamill is further alleged to have failed to take any ‘evasive action’ to avoid colliding with her as she was crossing the road and collided with her.
Prosecutors say the police van was travelling at a speed of ‘around 40mph’ at the time of the collision and that McCarron was ‘so severely injured’ she later died.
Hamill, of Strathaven, Lanarkshire, is due to appear at Hamilton Sheriff Court later this month for a procedural hearing.
Elsewhere a person has died after being struck by a train on a major ScotRail line this morning.
Police and ambulance crews raced to Edinburgh Park station just before 10am after reports of a casualty on the tracks.
Sadly, the person was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident is not thought to be suspicious.
The train operator has cancelled a number of services which has caused travel chaos for commuters.