An e-bike rider who left a two-year-old boy hospitalised after a collision has been let off by the police.
Dylan Latham needed more than a dozen stitches to his forehead after being struck by a 65-year-old female cyclist on a public footpath at a playing field in Prestatyn, Wales.
Despite the cyclist fleeing the scene and North Wales Police issuing an appeal to trace her, officers have decided not to pursue a criminal case after she came forward.
The infant’s mother is now calling for tougher laws for battery-powered bicycles.
Darcy Gore, 27, said she was “livid” that a prosecution was not being pursued, adding that she cried when she learned officers had in fact handed the woman her bike back.
“If this collision involved a car where the driver left, not giving their details despite someone bleeding badly, I believe police would have treated it as a scene of crime,” Ms Gore said. “The injuries my son received were equivalent to those that could have been caused by a car.
“Let’s hope the next person she collides with on her bike on a footpath meant for pedestrians is lucky enough to survive.”
Last month, Ms Gore, her partner, Jordan Latham, 28, and their three sons went to the Morfas football pitches where Mr Latham coaches a boys’ team.
As the training commenced, the mother spotted her youngest son, Dylan, momentarily stray onto a nearby pedestrian footpath, which serves as a cut through to the town centre.
“The cyclist should have been more mindful of her surroundings. She came flying down the path and her e-bike went straight into Dylan, cutting his head open,” she said.
Ms Gore ran to him and “scooped him up” before rushing him to her car and Mr Latham drove him to hospital as Ms Gore tried to stem the bleeding.
“I turned Dylan over and his face was covered in blood which was pouring out of the deep cut. I was in shock.
“I thought there was a possibility he was brain damaged because he was severely concussed and drifting in and out of consciousness. He was bleeding out heavily.
“He had a glazed look over his eyes. It was terrifying. In the resuscitation ward doctors gave him drips and plugged him into the monitors, but he showed no reaction whatsoever when cannula were fitted.”
At hospital – where Dylan spent one night, Ms Gore rang friends at the sports field to see what had happened to the cyclist.
“I was told that after about five minutes she got up off the ground and got on her bike and left, without even leaving her name or contact details,” she continued.
Police issued an appeal to trace the woman, who eventually came forward two days after the collision.
Ms Gord claimed officers were initially appalled that a cyclist could cause such injuries, but when they discovered it was not a young male careering along the footpath “their perspective shifted”.
“At first the police seemed really angry. As soon as they found it was a 65-year-old woman their judgement of character completely changed. I genuinely believe if this was a teenage boy on that bike there would not have been a decision to take no further action.”
Ms Gore said she was told by officers that the woman had no previous convictions and may have not come forward because she was in shock and slightly injured.
The e-bike, she was told, had not been modified to exceed the 15.5mph that such bikes can reach without pedal power.
Ms Gore added that she accepts the cyclist “did not intend” that day to “run over” a two-year-old boy, but feels she should still be held responsible because she was on a footpath meant for pedestrians.
She added that the “trauma” caused by the collision means Dylan is now afraid of certain noises when out and about in case there is a bike or scooter nearby.
“I am so lucky he survived and was only kept in hospital overnight. I want people to realise the dangers that these heavier and potentially faster e-bikes can pose,” she continued.
Ms Gore has lodged an appeal against the police’s decision to take no further action. North Wales Police has been contacted for a comment.
Denbighshire County Council failed to respond to a request to establish whether the path where the collision happened was purely a footpath or was categorised either as a “shared use” path to allow cyclists and pedestrians passage or included stretches of cycle lane.
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