A young girl taken to hospital Wednesday morning after being struck by a garbage truck remained in critical condition Thursday.
The 11- year-old was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after she was struck while riding her bike in the area of 28 Street and 43A Avenue at around 8:45 a.m.
Police said the 11-year-old girl was riding her bike when she was dragged under the wheels of the garbage truck. Both the girl and the truck were heading south on 28 Street when the truck made a left turn onto the avenue.
Police said the girl was biking alongside the driver’s side of the garbage truck when it turned left.
“As you can understand… the truck is quite high in weight, so there’s some serious injuries to this cyclist,” Sgt. James McLeod, with the EPS Major Collisions Investigation Unit, said.
The EPS did not know if she was wearing a helmet.
“From my understanding, speaking to some of my officers, it is a busy avenue at this time of the day and during the week, so we would expect a lot of traffic here.”
The girl is a student at the nearby Velma E. Baker School. Rehana Jiwani and Senay Ozkan were dropping their kids off at school when they saw the collision scene.
“I pulled over to see what was happening and I saw the girl on the ground and she was screaming. They were trying to get her to move her arms and she was able to move her arms and she was able to speak so I think that was a good sign,” Jiwani said.
“I’m very shaken as well, I can’t imagine anything like this,” Ozkan added.
The 11-year-old was treated on scene by paramedics and taken to hospital.
The school principal sent messages to all parents Wednesday morning to let them know what happened. Counsellors have been brought in for any student or staff member who needs someone to talk to.
Gary Read lives in the area and his wife works at the school. He said his wife came running back into the house Wednesday morning to grab a blanket, saying a young child was hit.
“She said it didn’t look very good,” Read said. “The ambulance was here right away. The fire truck was here first. It was a pretty bad scene.”
Read said he’s been concerned about traffic volume in the area for years. He’s lived in the neighbourhood for 18 years and said the traffic has only gotten busier.
“A lot of people use this road as a through road to get into the retail district down the road here,” he said. “It’s a zoo here during school time also. Parking, buses coming by here.
“The traffic on this road has increased exponentially. I phoned the city about a month ago complaining about the amount of traffic and speed…and I never got a response back.”
McLeod said alcohol does not appear to be a factor. Police said it’s not known if charges will be laid against the driver of the truck.
With files from Slav Kornik, Global News.
*EDITOR’S NOTE: Police originally stated the girl was 12 and later said her age was 11 years old.
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