Riverview man struck in hit and run still recovering

RIVERVIEW, N.B.  – RCMP have expanded the search for a driver that struck a public works employee in Riverview  last fall.

Investigators have been searching through New Brunswick motor vehicle records for the make and model of the car that left the scene. RCMP are asking residents in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to keep an eye out for the car too, believed to be a gold Mazda Protégé ES.

But the investigation has been slow and so has the healing for the man who was severely injured at the scene.

Although almost four months since the accident, Riverview Public Works Employee Steven Eagles is still struggling to get around.

He shattered his leg and broke his hip in the accident.

“It’s very slow,” he said in an interview with Global News. “Some days it’s painful and some days I just stay in bed and put the heat on it or the heat blanket and stay there.”

“It was the worst pain I can even imagine.”

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Eagles was hoping to be back to work this spring but knows that’s not going to happen. Now, he’s starting to wonder if the person who hit him will ever be found.

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RCMP are still searching for the car that stuck Eagles while he was repairing a broken water main in a Riverview intersection on Nov. 11.

Codiac Regional RCMP’s Constable Damien Theriault said the vehicle’s driver side mirror was broken off in the accident and left at the scene.

“Based on pieces of the vehicle that were left at the scene we know it was a Mazda Protégé ES. Gold in colour from year 2000 to 2003.”

RCMP are combing through motor vehicle records to try to find those makes and models of vehicles registered in New Brunswick.

But since Eagles didn’t actually see the plates, Theriault said the vehicle could also be from elsewhere in the Maritimes. RCMP are asking residents in outlying provinces to be on the lookout for the same make and model.

Meanwhile, Eagles wants to see the person who ran him down brought to justice soon.

“The reward is $2,500 to whoever can find him. It’s all theirs.”