Mum ‘feeling for’ fatal crash driver
Christopher Morris was sitting at the table tapping to the beat as his brother played guitar and sung a song he composed while celebrating their mother’s 99th birthday.
It was May 26 and the first time the 64-year-old, who lived at a Community Housing Trust flat in Christchurch, had seen his family since lockdown.
Morris, who loved music but was not a fan of dancing, spent the evening sitting in his chair while others in the family danced the night away.
‘‘We were all happy,’’ his mother, Flora Morris, told The
Press yesterday.
‘‘Chris was watching everybody and thoroughly enjoying himself ... It was lovely.’’
It’s one of the final memories the family have of Chris Morris, who died after being hit by a car as he cycled along Hoon Hay Rd on Saturday.
The driver of the car told witnesses at the scene she could not see because the sun was in her eyes.
Flora Morris first heard there had been a crash when she called her son’s flat to see how he was.
At the same time, her daughter-in-law, Tresna Honson, who had been informed by police, was walking through her front door to give her the bad news.
Honson took Morris to her home, where son Greg Morris lived. They spent the next few hours trying to call Christchurch Hospital for an update.
When they got through, they were told things were not looking good they should go to the hospital.
Chris Morris, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 21 and leukaemia several years ago, was in a coma when the family arrived.
‘‘The doctor said the head surgeons had looked and said there’s not a lot we can do. The bleeding was quite extensive down the right side of the brain,’’ Honson said.
Flora Morris asked for a priest who said some prayers and performed the last rites.
The family got home about 11.30pm expecting to head back first thing. Morris died overnight.
The family visited Morris in the mortuary, where Flora Morris said she ‘‘lost it’’.
‘‘We weren’t allowed to touch him because he was behind glass . . . and when I saw his face there I just couldn’t cope with it. I had to get away, it was too much.’’
She said she had been amazed by the support she had received from friends and family since. ‘‘I’m extremely blessed,’’ she said.
She wanted her son to be remembered as a ‘‘gentle, kind, creative and charming young man’’, who loved going for rides on his bike. Her property is filled with his creations, including planter boxes, wooden planes, chimes and jewellery. A shed at the back of the property is packed with clothes Chris Morris, a tailor by trade, made.
A Hoon Hay resident, who was the second person at the crash scene, said the driver of the car said she did not see the cyclist because the sun was in her eyes.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, including whether sunstrike was a factor.
Flora Morris said she has thought a lot about the driver and wants her to know she bears no ill will towards her.
‘‘It was an accident, and she certainly didn’t do it on purpose. I’d be feeling for her . . . that’s with her for the rest of her life.’’