Neighbour describes 'horrific' scene after SUV hits woman, 10-year-old boy and driver runs away

A mom and her son were seriously injured in Hamilton after being struck by a black 2008 Chevy Equinox that police say was "out of control."

The mother was in critical but stable condition as of 4:20 a.m. ET on Monday and the son was stable with life-altering injuries.

Police say the driver ran from the scene before officers arrived. 

At about 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, police said, a 30-year-old woman and her 10-year-old son were struck by a "vehicle that had been travelling southbound on Ottawa Street North near Dalhousie Ave."

The "driver lost control of the vehicle" and "the vehicle left the roadway, mounted the curb and struck the pair as they were walking northbound on the sidewalk," they said. 

After five years of living at the corner of Ottawa Street North and Dalkeith Avenue, Linda Buxton said the sound she heard on Sunday afternoon, of a car coming over the railroad tracks too quickly, was all too familiar.

But what followed was much more horrific.

"I was waiting for the second crash sound, which is usually the sound of another car being hit or the car coming over the railway tracks too fast hitting something else," Buxton told CBC Hamilton on Sunday.

"I didn't hear that today. Today I heard a man's voice screaming for help."

Buxton said she grabbed her phone and ran outside to see if she could do anything to help. 

"Myself and a few other people in the neighborhood have been concerned about the road safety here," she said.

"We've all been knowing that something horrific and horrible was going to happen eventually — and it seems that now that it has."

She said other community members rushed to the scene and called emergency services.

Buxton said the accident area looked like "something that you would normally only see on television."

She said the scene was "horrific" as she approached to see the man who had been yelling for help holding another person on the ground and the body of a child collapsed closer to a fence and tree.

"The fence was all smashed flat down onto the bushes and the car was over on the other side of the fence in the field."

A 'very dangerous' strip of road

Buxton said she could see that the passenger-side door of the car was open but she couldn't tell if it was still running, so she asked if anyone had checked the vehicle.

"At this point, I wasn't sure exactly what had happened."

Some of the other community members who had heard the crash and arrived on scene the checked the car to ensure no other people needed assistance.

Buxton said she tried to help the man who was covered in blood and had been holding the woman on the road as emergency services arrived.

"Another man that was there gave me a shirt and I sort of tried to wipe the blood off of the gentleman," she said, "and then the police sort of took over and asked me to step back."

When asked about efforts to locate the driver, police told CBC Hamilton on Monday the service continues to "interview witnesses and review video surveillance," and the K9 unit had been deployed on scene Sunday.

Buxton said the area where the incident took place is a "very dangerous" strip of road in a family community. 

"If you're unfamiliar with the road and don't know the tracks, if you're going more than 40 kilometres an hour, you're going too fast."

She said the railway tracks come to almost a sharp point on Ottawa Street North, making the location dangerous.

"We're a family community. There's a lot of children here."

With grocery stores and parks close by in the neighbourhood, Buxton said many people are out walking with their families regularly.

"All of us in this community have been saying, for the last little while, all these accidents keep happening and someone's gonna get hurt eventually."

Police are continuing to investigate and follow any investigative leads. Any witnesses who have not yet spoken with police are asked to call the Division 2 CID at 905-546-2907.

Hamilton working to change design of streets

The city has seen several collisions of late. Some have resulted in a total of 11 pedestrian fatalities this year alone. In 2021, there were 173 pedestrian collisions, nine of them fatal. 

On July 5, a 52-year-old man died after he was hit by a car's driver while cycling on the Upper Wentworth bridge, police said. 

Just hours earlier that day, a four-year-old was seriously injured after being hit by a pickup truck at the intersection of Sherman Avenue and Clinton Street.

In May, a DARTS driver who was standing on the sidewalk on Main Street West was hit and killed. In April, renowned Canadian conductor Boris Brott was killed in a hit and run in the city.

The city's public works committee recently voted unanimously for council to consider a complete streets design manual (CSDM) — a tool that would change the way streets are designed in Hamilton.

The underlying focus of the CSDM is enhanced roadway safety for travellers of all ages and abilities, said Trevor Jenkins, project manager for sustainable mobility planning with the city's transportation planning group.

"The design of a street is central to making our transportation systems safer. One street fatality or serious injury is one too many, and working to make complete streets safe is one key aspect of what this design manual will help to achieve."