Gerry Boudrias says his holidays were ruined when he stepped off the bus on Wednesday, Dec. 13 and was hit by the driver of a white van.
The 64-year-old wonders what was going through the mind of the driver, who didn’t stop after hitting him and his neighbour in a marked crosswalk.
“How could you leave two people there that could be dead?” Boudrias said in an interview Saturday at his home.
“The weather wasn’t a factor, the roads weren’t icy,” he told CBC News. “There was nothing to indicate there was a higher risk of an accident happening.”
Boudrias was on an Edmonton transit bus heading home after work. He met his neighbour at the corner of 96th Street and 71st Avenue.
The pair began chatting while looking out for vehicles, then began crossing 96th Street. The two were struck just after 5 p.m., and sent flying, according to reports.
Boudrias has a broken collarbone, fractured ribs and a spinal injury after being hit. His neighbour, a 49-year-old woman, suffered multiple fractures to the skull, collarbone, pelvis and spine. He spent five days in the hospital and was released last Sunday.
Boudrias was supposed to go on holidays with his family to Mexico but he was forced to cancel his trip because of his injuries.
“It’s been a rough ride.”
Looking for answers
In a statement on Friday, the woman’s husband urged the hit-and-run driver to come forward.
“Turn yourself in to police and take accountability for your mistake.”
Edmonton police said the van initially slowed down before fleeing the scene.
“You left my wife, a loving woman and devoted mother of our 10-year-old daughter, on the road to die and just drove away,” the husband said in the statement released by Edmonton police.
This is the intersection where Gerry Boudrias and his neighbour were hit on Dec. 13th, 2017. (CBC)
Police are still looking for the driver who drove off that day. Police believe the vehicle is a 2013 or newer Chevrolet three-quarter-tonne Express van or GMC Savana with an Alberta licence plate and no roof rack or rear windows.
Anyone with information is asked to call Edmonton police or Crimestoppers.