Cheyanne Reardon of Okotoks, Alta., says much of May 15th remains a blur after she says she was hit from behind by a vehicle when it jumped the curb.

The 17-year-old says she was walking along a sidewalk near the PetSmart around Westmount Road with her aunt and cousin when she heard the vehicle hit the curb.

“I heard it come up,” says Reardon. “(Even) if I turned around, it would still smoke the side of me. I didn’t even have enough time to turn around or even see or even look at or make my way out of the way of the vehicle.”

Leah LaRocke, Cheyanne’s aunt who was in town visiting, says she was also clipped by the vehicle, but can’t get the image of the car striking her niece out of her head.

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“She went over the hood of the car, kind of ended up like a backflip off the driver’s side and landed on the grass,” she says.

Cheyanne was taken by EMS to Alberta Children’s Hospital where she was treated for several injuries, including a sprained wrist and a severe gash on her forehead that needed 52 stiches.

“Her head was cracked open at her forehead, she had blood coming down her face,” says Darla LaRocke, Cheyanne’s mother. “Her arm was hurting and her hand was purple. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

According to an Okotoks RCMP release, the vehicle that hit Cheyanne was an SUV and it was determined that the driver wasn’t impaired.

He was issued a ticket for careless driving “which involves an $852 fine and if convicted could result in six demerit points and a possible license suspension.”

Leah doesn’t believe the driver knew he hit her niece, even after her son Ben Giese chased him down.

“I just ran out his car. He was still rolling when I was slamming on his window and then he looked up, and then kind of stopped,” said Ben Giese.

“He was confused why Ben was asking him to get out of the car,” says Leah. “Then he looked over when he saw Cheyanne on the ground and he went onto his knees and he was like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’”

Police say the driver remained at the scene.

Cheyanne says she’ll need to see a specialist for the next year and possibly counselling.

“I’m definitely going to have some trauma with vehicles. I just feel like he’s taken something from me,” she says.

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