http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_14159.aspx
saw this on local news today. Shame, really.
Seven-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Hit By Car In Scarborough
Tuesday August 28, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
It's the kind of tragedy that just shouldn't happen. A seven-year-old girl is dead after being struck by a car near Warden and Sheppard. The accident happened on Bay Mills Boulevard around 12:45pm Tuesday.
Police say she was crossing the road on her bike when she was struck. Witnesses confirm a van that hit the child had initially stopped for a boy on his own two-wheeler just seconds before. Once the boy passed, the vehicle started to roll forward and the driver apparently didn't see the girl until she was literally in front of him. By then, it was too late.
"This bicycle just rode across in front of the vehicle," said witness Anan Mahibir. "There's not too much the driver could really do."
The accident occurred right in front of the victim's home. Her distraught father rushed to her side to tend to his injured daughter. "The father was trying to talk to her, trying to get the child to breathe a little," Mahibir continued. "The child was in and out."
The youngster, who witnesses say was named Victoria, was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment, but doctors couldn't save her. "The driver didn't see that female crossing the street ... and as a result struck her, knocking her to the ground and dragging her a short distance," said Toronto Police Sgt. Gary McBratney, Traffic Services.
"She was taken to Scarborough Grace Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries."
The shocked driver just stood at the side of the road shaking following the tragic collision. It's alleged the girl was not wearing a helmet as she rode. "A helmet might have helped, because the impact wasn't that hard," Mahibir lamented.