FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — A 14-year-old is fighting to stay conscious after being struck by a van whose driver, instead of stopping to help, drove off.
The child was left injured on the side of the street.
What the teenager managed to do while lying on the ground could be the key to finding the driver.
“It’s crushing as a parent to see your child feeling so helpless, not knowing what to do, and not knowing how to help them, you know?” said Ashlee Gallardo, mother of the boy who was hit.
Fourteen-year-old Noah Gallardo was riding his e-bike when a van began pulling out of a parking lot on Cedar and Ferron in Fresno.
Noah stopped.
According to his family, the driver appeared to wave him on.
Believing it was safe, Noah rode past.
That’s when the van suddenly pulled forward, striking him.
“He told me that he was pinned between the car and his bike. And when he got hit, he hit his head on her car,” said Gallardo.
Despite being injured after the hit, he managed to take a photo of the van before help arrived.
“He then got a picture of the car, which was what he could. He called the ambulance. Poor baby, who’s still strong. He called the ambulance,” said Gallardo
Doctors say Noah suffered a concussion, triggering seizures.
“He has been having these episodes every few, I would say, at least four times an hour, maybe five times an hour. And it was lasting long minutes. As of right now, he’s doing really, really good. But it was all for the last three days, and it’s just been very scary, very traumatic, because when he goes into these seizure episodes, he doesn’t know how to talk anymore. And he has no strength in his legs, in his arms, nothing,” said Gallardo.
Noah’s mother says he had already been dealing with mental health issues.
She says missing school and not being able to do sports is hard for him to come to terms with.
So now he has to miss school and is worried about school the whole time.
“He wanted to do track, but he couldn’t do track because of his breathing,” said Gallardo.
After this incident, Gallardo has a message to parents:
“Just to have when the kids are out, you know, riding their bikes, to wear a helmet, because this concussion really caused a little bit of damage to him,” said Gallardo.