Windsor teen recovering, police investigating, after hit-and-run

Article content

A sudden crack of pain. An ambulance. A frantic mother.

Augustina Sevelka is still trying to piece together fragments of her memory.

But she knows she’s lucky to be breathing after a Jeep driver allegedly ran a stop sign and slammed into her, sending her hurtling through the air, before leaving her for dead on Wyandotte Street.

Sevelka, who was riding her bike, still had a body full of aches, scrapes and bruises on Thursday along with memory loss from a concussion.

I kind of remember being on my bike, and then hit and flying

“It’s hard because I’m obviously pissed off that some guy just left me and I could have died, because he didn’t know what condition I was in,” said Sevelka, 18. “It’s hard for me to think that somebody caused pain to me, drove away and could possibly cause pain to other people.”

Windsor police confirmed Thursday they are investigating the hit-and-run.

Sevelka’s mother, Candace Petre, said a witness reported that the driver was a man between 35 and 45 years old with “blondish hair.” He was driving a bright orange Jeep.

Article content

The girl was riding her bike along Wyandotte Street on Monday when the Jeep allegedly ran a stop sign at Dougall Avenue and plowed into her.

She was on her way to a babysitting job. Her mom usually drives her. But Petre was busy cutting down trees in the backyard. So Sevelka hopped on her bike. She pedalled away around 3:40 p.m.

Shortly after, Petre’s phone rang.

“I get this call from her and she’s not making any sense,” said Petre. “She’s talking about how she thinks she’s asleep, that she’s dreaming. She doesn’t really have a full grasp of what’s going on. Of course, I’m like what are you talking about? Where are you?”

Sevelka passed her phone to someone else.

“She hands me over to a person who identifies himself as an EMS,” said Petre. “He says don’t be alarmed, she’s okay, but your daughter has been hit by a car. He starts explaining to me that she was crossing the crosswalk on her bike and a guy flew through the stop sign, hit her. She flew from the bike and hit her head. She was knocked unconscious. A woman came to her aid and the driver sped off from the scene.”

The woman was Heather O’Halloran, who had just fired up her car after finishing work at a nearby clinic.

“I looked up and I saw the Jeep on my left hand side just blow through the stop sign,” said O’Halloran. “Then I saw her on her bike crossing the road and he just hit her and kept going.”

She called 911 and ran over to the girl. O’Halloran said the impact sounded like “a loud boom.”

“She flew up in the air and just landed flat on the ground,” said O’Halloran. “To see something like that and hear the sound, it hasn’t left me. I know she’s 18 but to me she’s still a little girl, just lying there lifeless. For somebody to be so cowardly to just keep going — he definitely knew he hit her — I don’t understand humanity.”

Article content

O’Halloran said the girl veered in and out of consciousness. She checked for broken bones, told a bystander to get a cold compress for Sevelka’s head injuries, and stayed with the girl in the street until paramedics arrived.

“She kept saying she was in a dream,” said O’Halloran. “I told her, ‘no sweetie. I’m so sorry. I wish it was.’”

Sevelka said Thursday it still feels like a horrible dream.

“One that you’re struggling to remember,” she said. “I kind of remember being on my bike, and then hit and flying. I don’t remember what hit me, but being told by witnesses it was a Jeep. So I just kind of remember the impact. After that, not a lot.”

At first, Petre was just relieved her daughter was alive. Now, she’s angry.

“I know that somebody almost killed my daughter and they’re still out there,” she said. “The disregard for her life was so nonchalant. She was out cold. This man had no idea after he hit her if she was even alive or not. He didn’t stop. He didn’t go to her aid. Nothing. He took the hell off. That to me is the most infuriating part of it.”

twilhelm@postmedia.com