An Edmonton man who suffered broken vertebrae, fractured ribs and a broken collarbone in a hit and run last week said he wants to know what was going through the mind of the person who hit him and his neighbour.
“I’d be pretty concerned about the people. I’d stop and help the people. Why wouldn’t you do that? I don’t know,” Gerry Boudrias told Global News on Friday.
Boudrias, 64, was released from hospital on Sunday but still has months of recovery ahead of him. He and his 49-year-old neighbour were walking in a marked crosswalk in the area of 71 Avenue and 96 Street at around 5:15 p.m. on Dec. 13 when they were struck by what police believe was a white van. The van did not stop.
READ MORE: 2 pedestrians seriously hurt by van involved in hit and run
Watch below: It’s been 10 days since two pedestrians were seriously injured in a hit and run in a marked Edmonton crosswalk. The driver still hasn’t been found and now one of the victims is speaking out. Sarah Kraus reports.
Boudrias had just gotten off the bus after a day of work downtown. He said he was talking to his neighbour about his upcoming holiday plans, which he’s since been forced to cancel as a result of the hit and run.
“We were just talking about Mexico and then, ‘Bang!’ The next thing I know I’m flying,” he said. “It was like being shot out of a cannon… I didn’t see anybody coming, I didn’t hear any braking or skid marks or lights or anything — I was just thrown.
“I was lying on the ground looking up at the house. I was that close to making it home that night.”
Boudrias was thrown about six metres but said he never lost consciousness. He and his neighbour were both taken to hospital.
“It could’ve been a lot worse. It could have been a very different outcome and I really am grateful for still being here.”
The husband of the woman who was hit released a statement via the Edmonton Police Service on Friday afternoon. The man, whose name was not released, said his wife was released from hospital on Thursday after suffering fractures to her skull, collarbone, pelvis and spinal injuries.
“You left my wife, a loving woman and devoted mother of our 10-year-old daughter, on the road to die and just drove away,” the man’s statement said in part.
“I can’t understand it. We’re all human beings. Why would you not show concern, first and foremost, for another human being and stop and assist them?”
Police continue to search for the suspect and the van, which officers believe is a white Chevrolet three-quarter ton Express Van or a GMC Savannah, model year 2013 or newer. The van had an Alberta licence plate and will have some front-end damage.
The woman’s husband is pleading for the suspect to come forward.
“Whether you’re a courier, or a contractor or whatever you were doing that evening, step up and do the right thing and make things right. Turn yourself in to police and take accountability for your mistake.”
While Boudrias doesn’t hold any resentment towards the driver, he wants answers.
“I’m not the vengeful type,” he said. “I’d be satisfied just knowing what was going on in the driver’s head. What was the driver doing at the time? Why didn’t the driver see us? The driver hit two people.
Boudrias has lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years and walks in the crosswalk hundreds of times per year. Looking back on the incident, he said there’s nothing he would have done differently.
“I am a pretty cautious pedestrian. I walk two miles every day,” he said. “I’m more of a walker than I am a public transit user even and I am pretty cautious. I think back on it now and… I’m not sitting here going, ‘I made a mistake’ or, ‘You could have done something differently.’ It’s like we weren’t there.”
Watch below: Police search for suspect van in south Edmonton hit and run
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