Boy hospitalized after being struck by pickup truck while riding bicycle in South Philadelphia
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - A young boy is in the hospital after Philadelphia police say he was struck by a pickup truck as he rode his bike in South Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon.
The gut-wrenching scene unfolded at Darien Street and Oregon Avenue, in South Philadelphia, where a pickup truck was stopped in the middle of the street, with a mangled bike underneath it.
Michael Helmer lives a half-block away at 9th and Oregon. That’s where police and witnesses say a young boy was riding his bike when the driver of the truck hit him.
Witnesses say the driver got out and took off running.
They say a crowd went after him and beat him up before police got to the scene and took him into custody.
"I came home from work and I seen a bunch of cops and little kids riding bikes and I’m like, ‘What happened?" Helmer explained.
A friend of the victim said they were riding bikes with a group of bikers when the victim was hit. The victim was said to have been dragged half a block from 9th to Darien before the truck stopped.
Investigators on scene say the boy is in stable condition with injuries all over his body.
Helmer sat outside his home several hours watching as police waited for a tow truck, with the bike still beneath the truck that hit it.
"As a father, I look at it like it could be my kid, you know? And, I would take it very hard. Very hard," Helmer remarked.
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