Andrew Bennett and his 4-year-old son were looking forward to a nice day at the California Academy of Sciences on Wednesday. Instead, they spent the day at what Bennett bitterly described as “the academy of triage and trauma at San Francisco General.”
The pair was riding north on Valencia Street, with Robby on a tandem device attached to his father’s bike. As they approached a green light at 18th Street, a woman driving a silver PT Cruiser “gunned through the intersection” against the red light and hit the front wheel of the bike.
Bennett hit the side of the car and he, his son and the bicycle landed about 20 feet away in the middle of the intersection, he said.
Despite the excruciating pain, what scared him most was the lack of sound coming from Robby.
“The silence after the accident was the scariest thing I’ve experienced in my life,” Bennett said. “I was screaming in agony and out of fear and concern for my son, but I couldn’t get up.”
It turned out Robby was nearly unscathed — his bicycle helmet split in two, he had some scratches on his elbow and he was terrified but OK. Bennett was not in as good shape, though. His spine was fractured and he could barely move.
The PT Cruiser, which police said was driven by a woman, fled the scene. Bennett said witnesses were able to catch the license plate number, but left before police began to investigate.
Bennett and police are asking anyone who witnessed the accident to come forward with information, and friends have been posting fliers around the intersection hoping for help.
“The bottom line here is I want the person to accept responsibility for what they’ve done,” Bennett said. “The point to me is this person recklessly endangered the lives of a 4-year-old child and a 42-year-old adult that were obeying the law.”
San Francisco’s police hit-and-run unit can be reached at (415) 553-1641.
