MONTREAL - Quebec's police watchdog is investigating after the death of a 58-year-old man who was run over by an empty police cruiser in northern Quebec.

The Bureau des enquetes independantes says in a tweet that its eight investigators finished working the scene at 5:30 a.m. Sunday.

The incident occurred Friday night, when members of the Kativik Regional Police Force were called to break up a fight involving several people at a home in Salluit, an Inuit community located near the Hudson Strait.

According to the watchdog's preliminary account, police arrived to see a severely beaten man being pulled from the residence by his legs.

Police left to arrest the suspected aggressor, but failed to properly park their vehicle, which ran over the man on the ground.

The victim was taken to hospital but was declared dead soon after.