An 11-year-old Battle Creek boy was killed Tuesday when his mini motorbike was involved in a collision with a patrol car from the Calhoun County Sheriff Department.

The crash was reported at 9:36 p.m. in Battle Creek on Michigan Avenue near Lenon Street just east of the entrance to Leila Arboretum.

"Anytime there is a loss of life it is extremely sad," Sheriff Matt Saxton said Wednesday morning. "In this case it was an 11-year-old boy which makes it a little more difficult. It is not easy to deal with."

Saxton said the boy was a student at Verona Elementary School and school officials were notified about his death. In a statement released Wednesday Superintendent Kimberly Carter said a crisis team was at the school to assist students, parents and staff.

"We are deeply saddened by this loss to our school community and will make every effort to help our students and staff through this tragedy," Carter said in a statement.

The boy's name was not released.

"We have had contact with the young man's parents," Saxton said. "We are not releasing the name of the juvenile out of respect for the family."

The name of the deputy, 49, also is not being released.

Saxton said the boy was riding a pocket bike or mini motorcycle not licensed for use on public streets. He said the mini bike was not equipped with lights and the boy was not wearing a helmet.

Saxton said the preliminary investigations shows the boy was traveling west in the outside lane and made a sharp left turn to cross all lanes to travel south on Lenon Street.

"It appears that the pocket bike turned in front of the patrol car and was struck by the front end of the patrol car," he said. "It looked like he was attempting to make a left hand turn onto Lenon Street from the far outside lane."

The deputy was driving from Pennfield Township on the northeast section of the Battle Creek metropolitan area and responding to a report of an unrelated burglary in progress on Layafette Street in Springfield, Saxton said.

Both Springfield and Pennfield Township are provided police protection by the sheriff department. Saxton said the two Springfield deputies were on another call and so the deputy from Pennfield was responding as back up for the burglary report.

The deputy involved in the crash has been with the sheriff department five years but was a Springfield officer for 18 years before that department closed.

Saxton said the patrol car was not traveling with lights and siren activated.

The boy was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo were he was pronounced dead.

The deputy was taken to Bronson Battle Creek for evaluation but was not injured.

"He was involved in a motor vehicle accident and went to the hospital to be checked out per agency policy," Saxton said. "He was involved in a fatal accident so protocol was followed and he was given a breath and blood test. That is routine when there is a two-vehicle accident but there is no indication he was under the influence of anything or that that played a part."

An accident reconstruction team from the Michigan State Police Fifth District Headquarters in Paw Paw investigated the scene and the state police will be conducting the investigation, Saxton said.

That will include determining what may have been captured on the in-car camera and on the event data recorder, sometimes called a black box, in the patrol car.

The sheriff department will conduct its own internal investigation. "We will have to decide if the deputy was acting within department policy," Saxton said.

Saxton said the deputy, who began his shift at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, was sent home after the crash and already was scheduled to be away from work for at least a couple of days but that "his duty status has not changed."

"Nobody comes to work expecting to be involved in a situation like this," Saxton said. "We have been in contact with the family of the deceased boy and have been in contact with the deputy to make sure he gets what he needs."

Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson