Friends of a pregnant woman killed in a car crash involving an unmarked RCMP cruiser in Richmond, B.C., are challenging police statements that she wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was seen speeding.

Emmanuella Cauchon, 33, pictured with her common-law husband, was pregnant with her third child when she was killed in a car crash with an unmarked RCMP cruiser in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday afternoon.
(CBC)

Emmanuella Cauchon, 33, died after the crash at the intersection of No. 6 Road and Cambie Road around 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday, Richmond RCMP said Wednesday.

Cauchon, who was three months pregnant, was travelling east on Cambie, while the police cruiser — which didn't have its lights or sirens on, and was doing regular patrol — was heading south on No. 6, police said.

Witnesses have come forward to say Cauchon was speeding moments before the collision, said RCMP Supt. Ward Clapham, and Cauchon was found not wearing a seatbelt after the collision.

He said the officer in the cruiser had a green light when he entered the intersection.

A roadside memorial has been created near the intersection where Emmanuella Cauchon was killed in a crash with an unmarked police car.
(CBC)

"He made it loud and clear from the very beginning and throughout that he had a green light. He was going through a green light. He had the legal passageway through that intersection when he and his vehicle were hit," Clapham said.

None of the witnesses saw the actual accident other than the officer and the woman who later died, Clapham said. The officer involved in the crash suffered minor leg, back and neck injuries, but has since been released from hospital.

Friends of Cauchon, who was expecting her third child, said the damage on the cars doesn't support the police version of events.

"The police car was hit on the side. It was Emmanuella's car that was hit on the driver's side and pushed into a huge pylon," said Lori Brisbin.

Friend Lori Brisbin says damage to the car driven by Emmanuella Cauchon doesn't appear to support police statements about the crash.
(CBC)

Cauchon had gone to a grocery store and was returning home when the crash happened, so there was no reason for her to rush or speed, Brisbin said.

Cauchon's family is scheduled to check out the wreckage Thursday, she said.

Jason Giroux, Cauchon's stepbrother, said the family is having a hard time facing her death.

"We just celebrated our Mom's death one year at Christmas, and then this happened. So it's kind of a double whammy.… We're in shock," he said.

The RCMP and B.C. coroner's service continue to investigate the crash.