Family of 10-year-old boy fatally hit by car says it’s a nightmare they can’t wake up from – Toronto | The Canadian News

The family of a 10-year-old girl fatally hit by a car in Vaughan in early September says the experience has been like a nightmare from which they cannot wake up.

“It was a bright, bright day like today, it’s not the rain, you can see everything from both directions like in my head I still can’t understand how it happened and this is 100% preventable,” Nikita Belykh’s father, Michael Belykh, told Global News on Thursday.

Nikta was biking home down the sidewalk with a friend after a swim lesson at the North Thornhill Community Center on Pleasant Ridge Avenue around 10:45 a.m. on September 1 when police officers said she was run over by a Hyundai Santa Fe. Investigators said the driver was exiting the community center parking lot.

“At eleven o’clock, I received a phone call from my wife [that] Nikita was hit by the car, but you’re not … you’re running … I work around the corner. I’m thinking maybe a broken leg, a couple of scratches. This is the safest area, it is a community setting, ”said Michael.

When he got to the hospital, Michael learned that Nikita was in critical condition. He died from his injuries the next day.

Investigators said the driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.

Michael said that he, his wife and their eldest daughter, Mary, came to Canada in 2002 from Russia in search of a better life. He said that in 2011, when Nikita was born, the family was completed.

“We have been waiting 16 years to have this baby. Then we finally get it, and all of our friends, we were jumping on the roof, “he said, calling her his” miraculous “daughter.

Nikita spoke three languages: English, Russian, and French, and was about to begin fifth grade French immersion. His family said that he loved animals and cared for the environment. The family said they are lost without Nikita.

However, they said they are grateful for the great amount of love and support from the community. TO GoFundMe It was created to support the family. As of Thursday night, it raised more than $ 54,000.

A makeshift memorial has been building on the scene filled with flowers and notes, as well as Nikita’s favorite toys like fidgets.

“Drivers, guys, please are driving the vehicle, this is the type of gun because of the weight, the height, the speed, they have the gun in their hand, so be careful with this gun,” Michael said.