RCMP say the driver of a vehicle that struck a five-year-old boy on his way to school on Tuesday in Courtenay, B.C., will not face any criminal charges.
“I think we’re extremely lucky that the driver was following all of the traffic laws so that we did avoid a tragic outcome in this case,” said Comox Valley RCMP Const. Monika Terragni on Wednesday.
First responders were called to the 400-block of Woods Avenue on Tuesday morning for the report of a pedestrian being struck. Terragni says the driver remained at the scene and was cooperative.
The youngster was struck as he and his seven-year-old brother were on their way to Puntledge Park Elementary School.
“It’s going to be traumatic for anybody that was in the area, whether it’s a witness, the driver, the parents, the child – absolutely it’s traumatic for everybody,” said Terragni.
The constable says the driver was cleared of any wrongdoing and they were assisted by dashcam video supplied by the driver, as well as doorbell surveillance footage from a home near the scene.
‘DROPPED EVERYTHING’
The boy’s father, Brian Garneau, was alerted that his son had been struck shortly after the accident occurred.
“It happened in front of a friend of ours’ house and she went running up to our house to get my wife and then phoned me at work and I dropped everything,” Garneau told mississauga personal injury lawyer
He drove to the scene unsure of what he would see or what condition his child would be in.
“You don’t know what you’re going to come up to, what you’re going to see at first,” he said. “I didn’t know, was he alive or was he not?”
His son, Kalem, was transported to a local hospital and then transferred to Nanaimo General Hospital where he underwent surgeries.
“His condition is a broken femur on his right leg and just some really good facial lacerations,” he said.