Deaf boy, 14, was badly hurt in SUV smash

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A 14-year-old deaf boy remained in intensive care yesterday after an SUV smashed into a Hamilton courier office on Friday and pinned him against a wall.

Initial Police reports stated that a 25-year-old employee of International Bonded Couriers (IBC) had been taken to hospital after the freak accident.

However, it emerged yesterday that the victim was in fact a 14-year-old summer student on his last day at work. His mother told The Royal Gazette: "He's a deaf child. He has injuries to his abdomen his colon was torn and his bowel was punctured.

"He was working behind the counter at the time and he was a direct hit. The SUV pushed him through a wall and he was pinned there."

The mother who asked that her name and her son's name be kept private also revealed: "He's a summer student employee through the community school initiative and it was his very last day. He was supposed to go to a ceremony that night to get his pay cheque and certificate."

She said he remained in a lot of pain in the intensive care unit yesterday, but was in a stable condition and making good progress after surgery for his injuries. He is expected to remain in hospital for another week.

The mother believes that a second young female summer student also suffered a leg injury. However, although a Police spokesman acknowledged yesterday that the original Police report was inaccurate, he denied that a second child was also hurt.

He explained: "Initial information on Friday morning suggested that the driver of the SUV and the injured party were a 35-year-old woman and a 25-year-old male IBC employee respectively. However, subsequently it was ascertained that there were actually two injured parties, a 24-year-old Warwick woman (minor injury) and a 14-year-old young man from St. George's (more seriously injured), both employed by IBC. The driver of the SUV was a 34-year-old St. George's woman. The Police Media Relations Department acknowledges the error and apologizes for this unintentional mistake."

The accident is believed to have happened when the 34-year-old woman, who had picked up a package, attempted to reverse her Honda CRV away from the door of the office on Park Road just before 10 a.m. According to witnesses, the vehicle appears to have slipped into forward gear and ploughed through the glass storefront.

Anthony Easton, a customer in the store at the time, told The Royal Gazette afterwards: "I was almost killed. It just missed me. I had no time to respond to what was going through my head. The car was just there. There was no time to move, to run. The first thing I said was 'what happened?' and immediately I was worried about the young man behind the counter."

The cost of the damage to the store is expected to run into tens of thousands of dollars. A notice at the premises yesterday stated that it remained closed due to the unforseen circumstances.