Family search for taxi in hit and run

June 30, 2008 - 11:35

AJAX -- An Ajax mother is upset a taxi driver could just drive away after hitting her son with his cab.

Aaron Powers was hit while crossing Harwood Avenue on his bike, said his mother Linda.

Aaron suffered a knee injury and had to miss a few days of work while recovering, she said.

The June 11 incident happened between 2:15 and 2:40 p.m., when Aaron and some friends were crossing Harwood. He was hit by a cab driver who helped move the bike to the side of the road, she said, and then got back in the car and drove off.

"Police are having a hard time finding the cab," she said.

The cab was turning off Dreyer Drive to go north on Harwood. Aaron and his friends were heading west across Harwood when they were hit, she said.

The taxi was from Beck, a Toronto firm.

"The police sent an e-mail to Beck," she said. "Nobody turned in a cab with any damage to it whatsoever."

"Everything is OK, except his knee," Ms. Power said, adding as a motorist, "You shouldn't leave the scene of an accident."

Her son, who just finished Grade 11 at Ajax High School, described the driver as an older African-American gentleman.

Aaron has been working at Temuss Products Canada, on Mackenzie Avenue south of Bayly Street, for the past two years. He's also employed helping a friend move computers, but had to stop that following the accident, she said."He can hardly stand. He had to do it on one leg."

If the police find the driver, "I assume he'll be charged because he left the scene. I don't think it's right to hit a kid, get out, move the bike and drive off. It's morally wrong to drive off (not knowing) if the individual is damaged," Ms. Powers said. "If I hit someone, I know not to drive off."

Anonymous tips can be made to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 and tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

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