'You left me on the ground': Boy knocked to ground after vehicle speeds through intersection in Niagara
Police are still searching for the driver of a vehicle that sped through a stop sign in Niagara Region last week and hit a bike being ridden by an 11-year-old child, knocking him to the ground before leaving the scene.
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on June 11, near Confederation Avenue and Richmond Street in the City of Thorold.
Niagara Regional Police posted the video to social media Thursday afternoon.
In what appears to be dashboard footage from another vehicle, a car speeds through a stop sign at a residential four-way intersection as a child is biking through the crosswalk.
The vehicle appears to clip the bike, hitting its front wheel while it drives by. The child falls off the bike and tumbles towards the side of the road.
The Grade 6 student, identified by his mother as Nik Couture, sustained scratches and bruises to his arms and legs, but was otherwise physically unharmed. He told CTV News Toronto that a university student and some neighbours came to help him and gave him a cell phone to call his mom.
“I was telling her, I ran over to her and I hugged her and I was bawling my eyes out. I was crying and I got hit by a car and the guy didn’t stop.”
The boy’s mother was around the corner driving home from a friend’s house when she received the call. She said that when she arrived, her son’s bike was still in the middle of the road.
“You hit a child or anybody in that matter you stop. You make sure they are okay. You bring them home. You call the police. You be a human. You don’t just drive off,” Rieanna Couture said, adding that when she saw video of the incident, she “broke down and started crying.”
“Watching that video and my son telling me what happened are two different things. You know, kids always dramatize the story right, but watching that video, having that video of your child being struck by a car is a whole new level.”
Nik Couture said that while he understands if the car accidentally hit his bike, the driver should have stopped to help him.
“I get it if you accidentally hit my bike and help me up and try to call my mom and maybe walk me home, but you left me on the ground,” he said.
Nik Couture, 11, and his mother Rieanna Couture are seen in this photograph taken on June 18, 2021. (John Musselman/CTV News Toronto)
The boy said the steering on his bike is damaged, but he is just happy he was able to go home that day and hug his mom.
With files from CTV News Toronto's John Musselman
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.