Family and police are turning to the public, to help find a suspect in a hit and run that killed a dog Thursday.
Around 1:30 p.m. a 20-year-old girl was walking her one-year-old french bulldog in a crosswalk on Foul Bay Road and Leighton Road, when a car collided in to them.
The woman escaped with minor injuries.
The family has put up signs appealing for witnesses to come forward, and the victim’s mother told CHEK News her daughter is devastated.
Others in the community say the crosswalk needs changing.
“That intersection is very dangerous, I use it all the time, I think it needs flashing lights. It’s very hard, I feel very sorry for the girl,” said Elizabeth Testemale, a local resident.
Heather Cochran has been living in the neighbourhood for 4 years with her husband. They were so worried about the intersection they took matters in to their own hands.
“Well I’ve been long frustrated with the crosswalk, even as a single commuter, but when I was commuting for two… even though with the belly out there [I thought] they would stop for me, but they wouldn’t,” said Cochran.
The crosswalk borders Victoria and Oak Bay, so back in January 2018 the couple reached out to both municipalities.
Oak Bay told them, the crosswalk added to a list for assessment. But months later their worst fears came true.
In August of last year, A woman was hit in the crosswalk, sent to hospital with serious injuries to her leg.
READ MORE: Pedestrian with non-life threatening injuries after being struck in Oak Bay crosswalk.
“We started that petition because we were really fed up with the crosswalk and the lack of action of that we had seen from the municipality,” said Cochran.
“All our neighbours were supportive. Everybody have stories of close calls them selves, seeing everyone else having near misses.”
The driver was charged with a failure to yield.
After that Cochran says Oak Bay installed equipment to track traffic. When she reached out two weeks ago, she was given good news.
“They told me that they were going to be put in pedestrian activated lights, which we are so thrilled, and we are celebrating that,” said Cochran.
“[But] to hear somebody was struck and especially lost their dog as well, then that’s really really disappointing. That unfortunately things didn’t move quick enough to get this crosswalk to a safe enough state… I wish it could have been safer sooner.”
Anyone with information on the October 10th crash is asked to contact Victoria police or Crimestoppers.
Julian Kolsut
