Crash victim a missing man from Quebec City
A 36-year-old Quebec City man who had been missing since July 17 was seriously injured after a motorcycle struck a post Sunday night just south of Peterborough.
Mathieu Rheaume was rushed to a Toronto hospital with serious injuries by Ornge land ambulance after the motorcycle crash on Wood Duck Dr. just east of County Rd. 2 in Otonabee-South Monaghan Township shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, Peterborough County OPP said.
The motorcycle was being driven west on County Rd. 2 just east of the intersection when the vehicle left the road, went onto the gravel/ sand/grass shoulder and struck a wooden post, police.
Wood Duck Dr. and County Rd. 2 were closed for about seven hours as OPP collision reconstructionists investigated.
Rheaume had been the subject of a Quebec police search after his family had reported him missing a week ago. Prior to the collision, he had last been seen on July 17 when he left his home late at night. He made a withdrawal from his ATM on the morning of July 18 in Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon, Que. He was supposed to meet friends on July 18 but never made it and his father was unable to reach him by phone ever since. His father, Rene Rheaume, told
Le Journal de Quebec newspaper on Monday that Mathieu remains in hospital in serious condition.
“Mathieu needs surgery. He has broken limbs. I just arrived at the hospital and I signed the papers authorizing the surgery,” Rene Rheaume told Le Journal de Quebec, speaking in French. Two officers with Surete du Quebec informed him of the collision early Monday morning.
“They told us that he had been found and that he had had an accident in Peterborough,” Rene Rheaume told Le Journal de Quebec.
“It is a great relief to see that he is alive, but healing will be long and painful if he comes out alive.”