Posted by TamaraJ on June 14, 2005, at 19:38:43
Cab hits boy, then takes off
8-year-old left with broken nose, road rash after getting knocked off bicycle
By HOLLY LAKE, Ottawa Sun
AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD boy is recovering from his injuries after being run down by a taxi in an apparent case of road rage.
Ben Pickard suffered a broken nose and road rash to his face, hands and knees after an incident that he and his sister describe as a deliberate attack Saturday while riding his bike.
Ottawa police confirmed that they were investigating the incident yesterday.
The children claim Ben was biking down Provender Pte. around 11:30 a.m. when the cab pulled up behind him after dropping a passenger off just up the street.
"He was following me on purpose," Ben said, his big brown eyes framing the bandage hiding five stitches on his broken nose.
From their apartment's front steps just feet away, his stepsister Shana Parent, 12, saw what was happening.
"The cab was following him and honking his horn," she said.
Ben biked into the parking lot of their apartment complex, but the cab driver followed, Shana said.
"The car bumped his back tire," she said. "He went flying. I didn't think it was real. It was so scary."
Shana watched as Ben struck a concrete pillar before crashing to the pavement below. There was still blood visible on the ground yesterday.
"He called my name," Shana said. "When I got to him he was unconscious."
She said the cab went to the back of the small parking lot, turned around and stopped next to Ben.
"(The driver) yelled at him, 'Get out of my way,' " Shana said. "But Ben was already on the ground."
Without getting out the car, she said, the cabbie drove off.
"I yelled for him to stop and come back, but he kept going."
RUSHED TO CHEO
That's when she ran inside to get help.
"She said, 'Mommy, I think Ben might be dead and all of his teeth are knocked out,' " her mother Debbie Parent said.
They called police, but rushed Ben to CHEO themselves.
Ben, who was in town from Prescott to visit his dad for the weekend, said he remembers very little about the incident.
"I can't believe this really happened. It seems so weird. I didn't remember anything (except) that me and Shana were playing outside. Then I remember going into the driveway."
Ben also noticed the passenger who got out of the cab at a neighbouring apartment before it started following him, and said he was a tall, black man.
Upset over the incident, his father Travis Pickard is hoping the public can help track down the driver.
"Ben's got a broken nose, five stitches and his face is smashed up. We just can't believe somebody would do that," he said. "This guy gunned my son down. (He) had absolutely no reason to do this. I want him caught."
'A TERRIBLE THING'
He's also angry that Shana had to witness it.
"It's a terrible thing for her to see," Pickard said. "As bad as Ben looks, he looked 10 times worse yesterday."
Fortunately, Shana got a close look at the driver.
She described him as Middle Eastern, with a very round face, big nose with wrinkles on his forehead, thick eyebrows and a moustache and no beard.
Pickard called the cab company yesterday in an attempt to get some assistance, but said he got nowhere.
"(The cab company) is saying they have 1,200 drivers and they can't locate this guy.
"You can't tell me there was 1,200 people working yesterday."
poster:TamaraJ
thread:512767
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050610/msgs/512767.html