A 14-year-old boy who was crossing the street on an electric scooter suffered very serious injuries when he was hit by a driver in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on Monday evening.
“I heard a big shock. The little one was lying on the ground, there were lots of people around him. The scooter was 10 meters further, almost on the sidewalk,” testifies Abdel Karim Bouhoit.
The collision occurred a little before 7 p.m., at the corner of Lachapelle and Émile-Nelligan streets, a stone’s throw from De Mésy Park, where a party was taking place to celebrate Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.
Photo ANOUK LEBEL
The young people were crossing the street after the festivities, with their parents, when neighbors heard the sound of the impact.
“I went to see. There was a lady sitting next to the boy who was crying. I think it’s his mother,” says Richard Marmontel, who lives opposite the park.
The teenager suffered very serious injuries, particularly to the head. He was unconscious when emergency services arrived. He was taken to hospital, where doctors feared for his life in the evening.
Photo ANOUK LEBEL
The car was traveling north on Lachapelle Street when it hit the young man, who was crossing east, said Jean-Pierre Brabant, SPVM public relations officer.
The 29-year-old driver stopped immediately.
Speed
“We are all upset,” said a neighbor who called 911, but did not want to identify herself.
This neighborhood mother denounces the speed on Lachapelle Street, where people often drive faster than the maximum speed of 50 km/h. “It really takes speed bumps, there is the park, the paddling pool. In winter, there is an ice rink, in summer, it is basketball,” she explains.
Mr. Bouhoit agrees. “The world sometimes exceeds 90 km/h. Everyone who lives here complains,” he said.
The intersection was completely closed to traffic. Accident scene investigators from the Montreal police were expected at the scene during the evening to try to reconstruct the sequence of events.
According to authorities, the collision occurred when the teenager was trying to cross Lachapelle Street on his electric scooter.
