The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FIFTEEN-year-old Miguel Curry said he would have forgiven the driver that struck him if the motorist had stayed on the scene to help.

However, that did not happen and now police are searching for the hit-and-run driver.

The Doris Johnson Senior High School student and his brother, aged six, were the victims of a hit-and-run on Bernard Road on Thursday.

According to police, preliminary reports reveal that around 3.40pm, the brothers were walking on the southern side of Bernard Road, in the area of the curve, west of Adderley Street, when they were struck.

The siblings were taken to the hospital by EMS where they were treated and discharged.

Police in New Providence are searching for the driver of a black vehicle who “refused to remain on the scene and fled the area in a westerly direction.”

Medwelth Curry Sr, Miguel’s father, said his son received injuries trying to protect his younger brother.

“He would’ve pulled his brother out of the way and the vehicle ended up colliding with him and he ended up hitting the ground and with injuries that he sustained. I think it’s his right knee and his forehead area.”

 His aunt, Ramona Munroe, gave more details about his injuries: “He has swollen tissues. He cannot walk on his foot - one of his feet, he has no broken bones, but swollen tissues that’s affecting him from walking.”

 He has some bruises on his side where he was struck by the car.

 “He had two bumps on his head – he has one now. He is on one medication - muscle relaxers. He’s using a crutch,” she added.

 As for the boy’s younger brother, the teen’s father noted: “It’s more of him going for observation because he basically had no injuries.”

 The incident happened when the brothers were getting off a bus after school.

 “So, me and my baby brother was crossing the road and both of us make sure there was no car and there was no car coming. Then as we was crossing, I look to my left and there was a car speeding towards us,” the 11th grader told The Tribune yesterday.

 “I thought the car was going to stop so that’s why I continued walking, but the car didn’t stop and it end up hitting me because I removed my baby brother out the way so it wouldn’t hurt him,” Miguel said.

 His brother, a student at Sandilands Primary School, was a “little scared.”

 He did not get a glimpse of what the driver looked like, but only remembered that the car was black. After the car left, strangers came to help.

 Many people have been angered by the driver not checking on the children and have demanded the person turn themselves in.

 Asked how he felt about the driver leaving, Miguel said: “I felt kinda hurt because even though you did hit someone doesn’t mean you have to speed off and not try to help them because you don’t know if you could get an apology or something.”

 He had this message for the driver: “I would say if you did like help then I would have forgiven you, but you didn’t help me, so I can’t forgive you for that.”

 Mr Curry said he was about to leave work when he got the news from the boys’ mother.

 “That was the last I heard from her, but I called the police control room and I asked them if any kids that got knocked down in the Fox Hill area and they said yes. The ambulance was on the way to them. I didn’t go to the scene - I went to the hospital.”

 The 41-year-old father said the driver needs to come forward.

 “The message is come forward,” the father said “Come forward and say what happened. If you made a mistake or you didn’t see them - nobody could kill you for that. And you know and, thank God, they’re still alive, but you need to come forward and say ‘I was passing there and I did see something and I did felt like I hit somebody.’”