Caught on camera: Austin bicyclist hit by car in hit-and-run
Austin bicyclist hit by car in hit-and-run speaks out, says the car ran him over intentionally
An Austin bicyclist was hit by a car off Riverside and another bicyclist caught the incident on camera, and it showed that the car may have hit the man on purpose. The Police are now searching for the driver of the car involved.
AUSTIN, Texas - A bicyclist was hit by a driver while riding his bike on Riverside Drive in South Austin, and it was all caught on video. The driver did not stop or render aid after hitting the bicyclist.
The hit-and-run was caught on video by Scott Thigpen.
The bicyclist was struck around 8:25 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30.
Scott, a fellow bicyclist, had a camera rolling on his helmet and was standing on the sidewalk on Riverside Drive talking to someone when the bicyclist was struck by a white two-door sedan.
The vehicle runs over the cyclist before speeding away.
"I saw it as plain as day, I know the camera doesn’t pick it up as well but the car intentionally swerved, hit him, and took off," Scott told Carissa Lehmkuhl.
The bicyclist who was hit, Nicolas Gardiner says the driver started interacting strangely with him about half mile down the road. "He’s right here, I was passing him he started screaming at me," Nicolas explained. "I wave my hand and said whatever went past him he let me get in front of him and then he angled, hit me and then righted himself."
The cyclist can be seen in the video getting up and moving himself to the grass along the side of the road. He lays down and Scott and other pedestrians approach the cyclist to see if he is okay. One of the pedestrians identifies herself as a nurse in the video and asks the cyclist what he needs before the video ends.
Scott can also be seen calling 911 in the video. ATCEMS told FOX 7 Austin that an ambulance was dispatched to the 700 block of West Riverside Drive but that the victim refused transport.
"Please tell me you got that on camera," the injured cyclist Nicolas Gardiner said to Scott at one point. Scott later told FOX 7 Austin that he actually wears the camera on his helmet because of past incidents as a biker.
"There’s been so many times I’ve been run off the road honked at or people throw stuff at you not everybody like most of these people are good folks, but there’s always that one person that’s mad or angry or has road rage."
FOX 7 Austin has reached out to the Austin Police Department for more information on this incident.
Tune in to FOX 7 Austin for the latest Central Texas news.
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