Mourning ‘a happy, happy little kid’
Hundreds of cyclists ride to pay tribute to 5-year-old
At 5 years old, Xavier Morgan was already an avid cyclist.
Together with his grandfather Scott Morgan, he had pedalled all across the city and the two planned on seeing more.
“He’d been riding a bike since he was 3,” said Morgan, who adopted Xavier and raised him from birth with his wife. “We went just about everywhere.”
Brenda Morgan, Xavier’s greataunt, said he was “a really, really good rider” and that he had probably biked “hundreds of kilometres.”
That’s why it was so unusual to Scott when his grandson crashed his bike on the Martin Goodman Trail on May 24, causing him to fall onto Lake Shore Blvd. W., where he was killed by a car.
“He didn’t see it coming, it just was so instant,” Scott said. “I was just behind him on a bike and I’m sure the wind hit him because he was so experienced. He turned his wheel suddenly . . . and then he fell and he gave me that look that ‘I’m OK,’ and then the car hit him.”
The accident took place just outside the Royal Canadian Legion near Jameson Ave.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of cyclists biked from Bloor St. and Spadina Ave. to the site of the crash as a tribute to Xavier, placing a whitecoated “ghost bike” there in his memory.
Xavier was “so full of life and incredibly loving and friendly,” Brenda Morgan said.
“He’d see your face once and he’d say, ‘hi friend!’ He just loved everybody and everybody loved him,” she said. “It’s an extraordinary thing that somebody so pure and beautiful is gone.”
He was “a happy, happy little kid,” Scott added.
Saturday’s ride was organized by Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists, a Toronto group which places ghost bikes at accident sites after each cycling death in the city, to remember fallen cyclists.
“It’s also a reminder the cyclist was there and hopefully a reminder for people to be more careful,” said Joey Schwartz, a member of the group who helped organize the ride.
Schwartz said it’s a tragedy anytime a cyclist is killed, but even more so in this instance because Xavier was just a child.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the cycling community more,” he paused, “gutted, in terms of feeling a deep, deep sense of sadness. It’s beyond words.”
City crews installed temporary barriers on Friday to divide the section of Lake Shore Blvd. W. where Xavier was struck from the adjacent bike trail.
The barriers will eventually be replaced by 366 metres of permanent fencing, separating trail users and motorists, the city also announced, while new signs and pavement markings will be added for cyclists and drivers.
Following a minute of silence after the memorial ride, cyclists lined the temporary barrier to form a human chain separating the road from the bike trail.
Others blocked a lane of traffic for a few minutes as they held a sign that read “a cyclist was killed here last week,” as a way of reminding drivers to slow down.
Schwartz said the city needs to be proactive in the future to prevent similar tragedies.
“It takes a death of a cyclist for the city to actually react and do some- thing,” he said. “If Xavier’s death has any lasting implications, hopefully it’s that the city will take cycling and cyclists more seriously.”
Brenda Morgan said she was grateful to the many people across the city who have offered support, including those of Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists. She said she didn’t even know about the group before discovering the event they were organizing for her nephew on Facebook.
“These people are just so giving and generous,” she said. “This process is going to help us heal our own hearts. All of these people are here in sympathy and so generously and this will help us recover.”
Scott said he hopes his grandson’s death can help pave the way for better safety measures, especially in the area where the accident happened.
“I hope they name it after him, that little stretch. Something like ‘Xavier’s Way,’ just to remember him,” Scott said.
“We believe that something good is going to come out of this, even though it’s a tragedy.”