A Grade 9 student who was injured after a vehicle crashed into a pedestrian bridge in Markham last week said she still has bruises on the side of her thigh and her arm from the collision.
On Thursday afternoon, Siya Pandit, 14, was crossing Warden Avenue just north of Highway 7 to get to the bus stop when a vehicle sped through the intersection.
“I remember seeing a car just coming, accelerating in front of me. I could hear the engine,” Pandit told CTV News Toronto. “I just remember it being a hit on my leg and then I fell over.”
The incident was captured on dashboard camera video provided to CP24. The video appears to show a car exiting a busy plaza and jumping a curb. The vehicle then appears to accelerate towards a group of about seven pedestrians who are crossing the street, eventually slamming into a pedestrian bridge and ending up in a ditch.
Pandit sustained minor injuries and a 73-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
“It just grazed the side of my leg and I fell over from the impact, but that’s all I remember from it,” Pandit said. “After I got up, I looked up and I saw the pedestrian who had fallen over. She wasn't moving and so I was really scared. And other people started coming out of their cars. They were trying to keep her on the ground and telling her paramedics and police were on the way.”
The 81-year-old driver of the vehicle sustained minor injuries. She has been charged with careless driving.
After watching video of the crash, Pandit expressed how lucky she feels to have walked away with just a couple of bruises.
“I feel like it was more scary to watch the video than when it actually happened because you can see the whole thing, the big picture and everything,” she said. “I am very fortunate and had I been not in the same position I was in, I could have been hit a lot worse.”
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Tracy Tong
