On Sunday (25 June), a woman and her daughter were hit by a cyclist while they were walking at East Coast Park.
They had to visit the hospital and stayed there for up to two nights due to their injuries.
Although the cyclist left his phone numbers for the family to contact, they later realised that the numbers were either unavailable or invalid.
His whereabouts are also currently unknown.
Andrew, whose wife and child were injured in the collision, is now looking for witnesses after filing a police report.
Source: Andrew Foo on Facebook
According to Andrew in a Facebook post in the SG PCN Cyclist group, his family was taking a stroll at East Coast Park on Sunday (25 June).
His family included his wife Jodi, as well as their 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.
Andrew said they were on the shared path outside East Coast Lagoon Food Village.
At around 3pm, a male cyclist on a road bike crashed into the family from the back.
Jodi told MS News via a phone call that the cyclist was travelling “at quite a speed” and was not looking in front.
The cyclist then collided with both Jodi and her daughter.
She landed on her buttocks and her glasses flew onto a grass patch.
Meanwhile, her daughter fell face-first and was crying non-stop after.
Source: Andrew Foo on Facebook
The young girl suffered several scratches around her body.
“The culprit is a Caucasian and likely to be in his 20s with blond hair with a height of about 1.75 to 1.8m,” Andrew wrote in his Facebook post.
Apparently, he introduced himself as “George” and claimed he was British.
Jodi mentioned that the person known as George was with a partner, also male and British.
The cyclist offered a bottle of mineral water to clean her daughter’s wounds, but they declined as they were unsure if he was a certified medical professional.
Although he apologised profusely, Andrew found out later that “George” had given the family two numbers that ended up uncontactable.
One of them was a local number, while the other was one with a United Kingdom (UK) country code with a +44 in front.
“He even corrected me when I keyed in his UK number incorrectly which made the situation even more convincing,” Andrew noted.
At the time, Andrew’s focus was to get the family to the hospital for medical attention, so he did not verify the numbers immediately.
It was only after the family was checked into Parkway East Hospital that he attempted to contact George, only to realise that he was unable to.
“His local number is never turned on, while his UK number is invalid.” Indeed, when MS News tried to contact the Singapore number, we were told that the mobile customer is unavailable.
Because the case involved bodily injuries, Andrew made a police report.
“The police established that this is a case of rash act/negligence and is a criminal offence,” he said.
He noted that Jodi has a tailbone fracture, while their daughter has abrasions all over her body, including her face.
The young girl was apparently so traumatised by the incident that multiple nurses had to hold her down to dress her wounds.
Source: Andrew Foo on Facebook
She also refused to leave her mother’s side throughout her hospital stay.
“She was so scared that she would even go to the toilet with me,” Jodi shared.
As such, the family is now looking for witnesses or people who may know the whereabouts or identity of the culprit.
“The culprit was cycling on a road bike with a partner on another bike,” Andrew wrote. “Both are Caucasians in their late teens to 20s. Both were topless and wearing dark-coloured shorts.
He also said that the culprit suffered some abrasions to his limbs because of the accident.
“If you are the culprit, man up and take responsibility for your actions,” Andrew declared in the post.
“Giving false information, especially after you have caused harm to a lady and a child? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
If you have any clues as to the culprit’s identity or whereabouts, you can contact Andrew at 9639 9203.
Besides the appeal for witnesses, Jodi hopes the authorities can do something about the layout of the area.
As the lane is a merging lane for pedestrians and cyclists, there’s often a bottleneck there and it’s not safe, she believes.
“My daughter’s teacher shared that her uncle was the victim of a similar incident but the cyclist just went away without stopping, leaving him there injured,” Jodi said.
“He didn’t make a report as he couldn’t identify the cyclist. So I wonder if there’s any way to help identify cyclists, as, for example, vehicles have licence plates.”
We hope the family will get the information they need to resolve the case. Likewise, we also hope the authorities will consider their feedback for the design of the path at the park.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Andrew Foo on Facebook.
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