A DAD whose son was badly injured in a hit-and-a-run crash claims he was ‘targeted’ by thieves trying to steal his £3,000 electric bike.
Bernie Price, 42, feared 14-year-old Israel died in the September 12 collision in Sheffield after a Toyota Rav 4 thundered towards him and his friends.
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Israel, who had been on his Sur-Ron Light Bee X bike in the Holbrook Industrial Estate, suffered a dented skull, split chin, cuts across his body and a badly damaged right eye in the crash.
After the SUV first clipped one of the boys, it then “smashed” into Israel while he was sitting on top of a curb, looking at his phone, Bernie said.
The lad was left unconscious for around six minutes – and needed to spend four days in hospital after being rushed for emergency treatment in an ambulance.
Bernie, from Sheffield, now believes that his son was deliberately knocked to the ground by thieves attempting to take his bike.
The landlord said: “I know it wasn’t an accident because my son was on the curb, looking at his phone, seeing what time it was.
“So the guy that has done this has gone up onto the curb to target my son.
“The ambulance came within a few minutes. He was unconscious for about five to six minutes… He could have killed my son.”
Bernie said Israel was thankfully expected to make a full recovery.
But he felt Israel – an amateur boxer who is among the top fighters for his age and weight in the country – had been deeply affected by the incident.
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He added: “He’s not himself, he’s not my cheerful son.”
Dad-of-four Bernie said he had left Steel City Boxing Gym, where he is also a trainer, on Thursday evening with Israel.
And following the session, the boy and his twin brother, Bernie Jnr., had gone to play on their bikes with some friends, later ending up at the Holbrook Industrial Estate.
Bernie, who is a born-again Christian, said he was driving back from a church service in Barnsley at around 9pm that evening when he got a frantic call.
And that’s when he found out to his horror that Israel had been hit by a car and was ‘laid out on the floor’ unconscious.
He said: “I’ve had a phone call off my son, Bernie Jnr. I didn’t think much of it, and he said, ‘Hurry up, get here, quick, Israel has been run over and we can’t wake him up.’
“I ran for my life and jumped in the car. Me and my wife just drove like crazy from Barnsley to Sheffield, assuming the worst.”
South Yorkshire Police statement on the crash
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “At 9.04pm on Thursday (12 September), we were called by the ambulance service to reports of a road traffic collision on New Street, Holbrook.
“It is reported that an unknown vehicle was involved in a collision with an electric bike being ridden by a 14-year-old boy, with a 16-year-old boy riding pillion. The unknown vehicle then left the scene.
“The 14-year-old boy was taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries. The 16-year-old boy received minor injuries in the collision and did not require hospital treatment.
“An investigation was launched, and officers are carrying out enquiries to identify the other vehicle involved in the collision
The dad was later told by the boys who saw the crash that a Toyota Rav 4 had been following them for some time before it smashed into Israel.
Bernie said: “They said to me, ‘Dad, there was a grey Rav 4 on an 09 reg, looking dodgy. It kept doing U-turns and floating around us.’
“Then, when it was 8.59pm, this Rav 4 has just come steaming up to the kids. It’s clipped the one lad and budged him off his bike.
“And then it went up a curb, because Israel was on a curb, and went into the back of him. And it’s smashed my son.”
Bernie added: “He [Israel] said to me, ‘Dad, my last memory was this, someone shouted, ‘move Israel.’
“‘I turned around and saw two headlights and heard a loud rev, and then I woke up in hospital.’ The driver just fled the scene and left.”
Bernie said Israel’s friends had called an ambulance soon after the crash, which had arrived rapidly and then rushed him to hospital.
The battered and bruised teen then had his numerous injuries assessed by medics.
Bernie said: “He had a brain scan. Thank God that came back clear, but there’s a dent in his skull.
“He’s got a split in his chin, his hands are cut, his legs are cut, and he’s got a really bad lump on his thigh.
“After his brain scan came back clear, his eye was the main priority because the hospital couldn’t get it open to look inside to see if he had sight.
“They tried for two days, but luckily, thank god, on Sunday evening they managed to give him some morphine for the pain, and they got in there and looked and said his sight is still there.”
Bernie has now asked anyone who has information about the incident to come forward and help with the police inquiry.
South Yorkshire Police said today they had launched an investigation into the hit-and-run crash.
A spokesperson said they believed a 16-year-old boy was riding pillion on Israel’s bike at the time of the crash, but he only sustained minor injuries.
And they are now carrying out extensive enquiries to identify the vehicle involved in the smash, which was previously described by onlookers as a grey Toyota Rav 4.