A 20-year-old cyclist is dead after following an early morning hit-and-run in Whitchurch-Stouffville.
York Regional Police say the victim was riding in the Ninth Line and Bethesda Sideroad area, east of Highway 48, when he was hit. Police say he was struck between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
They say a passerby spotted the injured cyclist’s mangled bicycle on the roadside, stopped their vehicle and found the man in a nearby ditch.
The young man died at the scene.
Friends identified the victim as Daunte Thompson-Bruce of Whitchurch-Stouffville, a business administration student at Seneca College, who was on summer break.
They told CTV News Toronto that Thompson-Bruce had spent the night at a friend’s house about a 20 minute bike ride north from where he was hit. The former high-school track star cycled “everywhere,” friends said, adding that the early morning ride wasn’t unusual for him.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by friends of Thompson-Bruce to help his family with funeral costs. They wrote that it feels like a "bright light" has been "extinguished."
"Daunte was a brilliant friend, whose smile never ceased to bring joy to others," the fundraising effort's webpage reads. "He was always the friend who was there to hangout if you wanted to and was never shy about making new friends out of strangers."
Police are asking anyone who notices or is aware of a vehicle with “fresh damage” to call them immediately. They say there is little information available due to the remote area in which the collision occurred.
“All we know at this point was that he was located at 6 a.m. by this passerby,” Const. Marina Orlovski told CTV News Toronto.
“We don’t know how long he may have been at the side of the road or what circumstances led up to the collision with this unknown vehicle that we are looking for.”
Anyone who was in the area any time before 6 a.m. is also being asked to contact the York Regional Police Major Collision Investigation Unit at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7704 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
