Search for driver
Pair turn to social media with story of Halton accident
A cyclist and her son take to social media to find an alleged hit-and-run driver who left the woman bloodied at the side of an Oakville street on Friday,
The first thing Blake Talbot saw when he arrived at the scene of his mother’s accident was the blood.
Just minutes earlier, he had received a call at his job at a nearby rec centre from a woman who said she was with his mother, who had just crashed her bicycle.
Talbot arrived to find his mom, Stacey Talbot, inside an ambulance, “covered in blood and still bleeding,” with “her upper lip and nose (swelled to) more than double their size.”
That’s when she told him the full story: She was knocked off her bike after a vehicle turned in front of her, and she felt lucky to be alive. “I didn’t even see it coming,” she told the Star. Shortly after the accident, Talbot shared a photo of his mother, bloodied shirt and all, in a Facebook post, calling for justice for what he and his mother believe was a hit and run.
Halton Regional Police confirmed that they are investigating, and are doing “extensive canvassing” to try to find out more about the alleged incident.
The online engagement has snowballed since Blake uploaded the picture Friday. The original post had more than 1,300 likes, 783 comments and 5,389 shares on Facebook Monday evening, with countless strangers and friends expressing their outrage and sadness at the incident.
“We would love to catch the dirt bag who thinks it’s OK to leave a bleeding woman they just hit on the street,” Talbot’s post reads, describing his mother as “the most peaceful person.”
Stacey Talbot told the Star she had been riding home from work around 2:30 p.m. on Friday on Nottinghill Gate in Oakville when a car crossed into her lane while attempting to make a turn in front of her, causing her to crash into the vehicle.
“When I first looked up (after the collision), I thought that the car had pulled over onto the side of the road. Then I went down again,” Talbot said.
“And then there was a lady there who was helping me and I assumed she was the driver (until) I said something about the car, and (she) said there was no car there, it left.” That woman was the one who called her son, and has since given her account of events to police, Blake Talbot said.
Incidents like this are relatively rare in the Halton region, said Sgt. Ryan Snow.
“(We) only get about 100 collisions (per year) in our region involving cyclists,” he said.
Since 2010, Halton Regional Police have recorded six deaths in collisions between cyclists and vehicles. In 2016, there was one death and 83 non-fatal injuries.
Sgt. Snow said that solving hit and runs often proves difficult, especially since drivers sometimes don’t realize they’ve struck someone.
“Without a licence plate number . . . the ability of the police to locate the offending vehicle and driver becomes greatly diminished,” Snow said.
Halton Traffic Services told the Star police believe they are looking for a white car, but the division said they have not yet been able to get more detailed suspect information.
Stacey Talbot has been in hospital since the accident Friday, when a CT scan revealed bleeding in her brain. An MRI was performed Monday, but as of early evening they had yet to receive the results.
She said her son’s impassioned defence of her is one reason why they received such a “crazy” response online. “I think that really touched people.”
She needs new glasses, and her teeth are so numb that she can’t “chew or bite with them at all,” but despite that, she is willing to forgive the driver.
That’s not good enough for Blake. The fact that his mother said the car continued on despite hitting her is “inexcusable” to him.
“We are Canadian,” he said. “We are known for being caring, giving people. At least we used to be.”
Thankfully his mother was wearing her helmet at the time of the accident. He believes that “if she wasn’t wearing her bike helmet, it would have killed her.”
Sgt. Snow said that “a helmet is not the be all and end all of walking away from a collision,” but that at the end of the day, anyone on a bicycle should have one on.
“I’ve always been kind of hit and miss with wearing my helmet and fortunately I had my helmet on when that happened,” Stacey Talbot said.
“I will never ride without a helmet again.” With files from Emily Fearon