Girl, 5, is ‘scarred for life’ af ter being hit by electric bike
A GIRL of five was seriously injured and is likely to be scarred for life after she was mowed down by an electric moped.
Emily Hill needed 24 stitches to her scalp when she was dragged 50ft down the street by the ‘near silent’ dirt bike.
The 22-year-old rider, who is being investigated by police, allegedly zoomed off a footpath and collided with Emily, who was being picked up from a quiet cul-de-sac.
Doctors have warned her parents she may need cosmetic surgery – including an operation to graft hair follicles on to the side of her head.
Emily’s mother Leigh, 23, said few people realise the ‘dangerous’ vehicles – which can reach speeds of 47mph – can be operated by teenagers with just a moped licence.
‘We have been through weeks of hell,’ said the billing administrator from Keighley, West Yorkshire.
‘Many people think electric bikes are safe but we have learned the hardest way possible they are not.’
Emily and her brother Charlie, three, were being picked up from their aunt’s house in Keighley when the accident happened on June 11.
Emily did not hear the bike – which struck her after speeding through bollards on to the road where she was waiting for Mrs Hill and her father Sam, 27.
‘I heard a massive bang and a second later saw Emily come out from under his bike a couple of car lengths down the road,’ said Mrs Hill. ‘We could see the injuries were really bad. Emily went in and out of consciousness a couple of times.
‘At one point she stopped crying and moving, then suddenly let out a big scream... I felt sick.’
Doctors stitched up Emily’s head wound at Airedale General Hospital where she spent the night before being transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary. She was discharged the following day.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire police said inquiries are ongoing.