Mother looking for driver who hit her son

13-year-old boy struck on Catherine Street

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — Police are asking local residents with any information regarding a vehicle that struck and injured a 13-year-old boy while riding his bike home from school Thursday to alert the Police Department. According to Heidi Hansen, her son Bearitt was riding across a crosswalk on Catherine Street when he was allegedly struck by a red or maroon older-model truck driven by an elderly man with only one license plate on the front and a rounded front end. “He said it was a balding elderly white man with gray hair on the sides of his head,” said Ms. Hansen. “He kept going and there was one other vehicle who stopped and then kept going after asking if he was OK. Not one person was willing to call 911.” Ms. Hansen said her son’s older brother brought him home after the accident and when she arrived she immediately called the police and rushed him to the emergency room. “We brought him to Heywood Hospital because he had burn marks on his stomach. They did a CAT scan and said he looked fine and that we could bring him home,” said Ms. Hansen. It was not until she brought him to his regular doctor for a second opinion that she received word that her son had a considerable amount of fluid leaking into his pelvis which doctors worried could possibly be from a punctured organ. According to Ms. Hansen, the family is now waiting 10 days to see if the injury will require surgery. “I just want to find the driver,” said Ms. Hansen. “I’m hoping that someone can come forward with something. I am worried that he is only 13 years old and was in shock and that some of his information could be off. So we are hoping for any help we can get from people in the community.” Anyone with information regarding the driver is urged to call the Gardner Police Department. oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 9/27/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 229)