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New York Daily News – by Nicole Hensley
There “wasn’t much that could be done,” witnesses say, after a Washington state cop hit a teenager at highway speeds on Friday night while rushing to a call without any lights or sirens.
Tim Viall caught the penultimate screech of tires as an unidentified Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy tried to swerve around a teen bicyclist at about 10:30 p.m., but only turned around after he heard the dreaded thud and saw a car speeding away.
The bloody accident knocked Ryan Holyk, 15, to the ground, where Viall rushed his truck to the wrong side of the road to stop traffic and shine some light on the poor boy as blood poured from his head and pooled on the ground.
The teen labored to breathe through all the blood, but Viall said there was little he could do except “rub his back and tell him an ambulance was on its way,” he wrote on Facebook.
He assumed the accident was a hit and run, but the traumatized deputy came back momentarily and was “very shaken up,” said Lt. Steve Barbieri to KXLY-TV.
The frantic deputy told a witness at the accident he had been going 60 mph to a domestic violence call. He even had a green light, saw the kid and tried to steer out of the way.
GOOGLERyan Holyk, 15, was struck by Spokane Valley deputy along Sprague Avenue near Vista Road in Spokane Valley , Washington.“Even cops will freak after hitting a kid,” Viall wrote.
Holyk is at a local hospital in critical condition for his injuries. A Spokesman-Review photo shows a sign taped to a crosswalk by the family asking for prayers as their child clings to life.
The deputy will likely be placed on administrative leave because of Holyk’s life-threatening injuries, the TV station reported.
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No lights/siren,WTF!I could see perhaps turning em off right before a domestic calls address to not freak out people even more if violence a issue but then driving very slow anyhow so not hitting brakes and screeching tires in front of domestic calls home,this guy should be fired,hope the kid has a full recovery.
Spokane just put a bunch of new policy enforcers on the street in the last couple weeks. What a shining example those rookies have to look up to.
Not putting his sirens and lights on and then running over a kid at 10:30 at night and rather than getting put in prison and charged with involuntary manslaughter, he’s put on a two week paid vacation. I see how it is. Unfrigginbelievable. May God help this kid.