A 38-year-old man has been charged and will appear in court after allegedly driving into a 15-year-old e-bike rider and fleeing the scene in a road rage incident in North Curl Curl on yesterday afternoon.
Emergency services were called to Abbott Road near the Curl Curl Creative about 4.30pm yesterday, 27 April after reports of a crash involving a white Volkswagen SUV and a group of teenage e-bike riders.
Police say the altercation began when the driver made an offensive hand gesture to the group. He drove away, but one of the teens followed the vehicle and a verbal argument broke out. During the exchange, the driver allegedly threw a water bottle at the 15-year-old boy before driving off again. The teen threw it back at the car, though it did not make contact.
The boy continued to follow the vehicle before blocking it at the intersection of Abbott and Pitt roads. The driver then allegedly drove into the teen, throwing him from his e-bike, before fleeing the scene. Police allege the man also failed to stop when directed to do so by two nearby off-duty officers.
Witness Laura as among the first to stop. “We were just driving down around the corner onto Abbott Road and saw a car fully up on the kerb. We stopped because we were like, someone has been hit. The passenger door of the car kind of opened and then slammed shut, and the driver of that car swerved out, nearly hit us, and then swerved off.”
Laura said she spoke to other kids in the group about what had led to the incident.
“They said that the guy from the car had thrown a bottle out of the car at the kids on the e-bikes. Then they threw it back at the car and then that is when he just accelerated up off the road, like completely off the road, and hit the kid.”
She described the boy’s legs as bleeding and grazed, with the bike badly damaged. “E-bikes are sometimes annoying, but you would not run someone over. That could have gone so much worse. I do not know what is going on with the world.”
A Toll helicopter landed on the adjacent playing fields as a precaution but departed without a patient onboard. Paramedics treated the 15-year-old for serious leg injuries before transporting him to Randwick Children’s Hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
A crime scene was established and detectives commenced an investigation. The 38-year-old was arrested at Dee Why Police Station about 5.30pm and transferred to Manly Police Station, where he was charged with driving furiously in a motor vehicle to cause bodily harm, negligent driving (no death or grievous bodily harm), and driving while a licence application has been refused.
He was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear before Manly Local Court on, Wednesday 20 May (updated).
