A Liverpool schoolboy was left with a fractured spine and requiring an above-the-knee amputation after being mowed down by a hit-and-run driver.
Police are calling for the owner of a grey Honda Civic to hand themselves in after the car collided with 15-year-old Zach Michaels as he was cycling the five minute journey back from his grandmother’s house.
The incident happened at around 6.25pm on Sunday 22 December on Bracknell Avenue outside Kirkby High School.
Zach’s mum, Maria Michaels, 43, claims the car was doing 70 miles per hour despite it being a residential street – and said the collision left Zach in a ‘heap’ on the floor.
The high schooler was airlifted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and his injuries were so severe that they required one operation per day for a whole week.
The teenager suffered a dizzying array of injuries, including a punctured lung, fractured vertebrae and multiple open fractures, as well as ligament damage to his neck.
Maria, a nurse, said: ‘Zach is an amazingly brave boy. It’s going to be a really, really long time before he’ll be discharged from hospital.
‘He’s got his amputation wound which will need healing, his fractures and tendons need to heal. I can’t even think that far ahead, right now.’
Schoolboy Zach Michaels was left with a fractured spine and requiring an above-the-knee amputation after he was involved in a hit-and-run during his cycle home
Zach’s mother Maria said the accident left his body ‘contorted – the shape he’d been left in didn’t look normal’
Maria Michaels (left), a nurse from Kirby, pictured with her son Zach (right) before the accident
On December 22, Zach had left the home of his gran, Irene Martin, 70, and began cycling the short route back to his mother’s house.
Just moments after he set off, while riding down a school lane, he was struck by a speeding car which failed to stop after the collision.
Residents on the street heard the impact, and began bringing him blankets and offering help – as well as calling emergency services.
‘They alerted my mum, who told me and my partner,’ Maria said. ‘We got in the car and drove down – by the time we got there, the police had already arrived.
‘Zach’s body was just contorted; the shape he’d been left in didn’t look normal. He was fully conscious the whole time, and he just kept saying: ‘Mum, mum, I don’t want to die.’
‘Paramedics had to stabilise him in the middle of the road, because it was the safest thing to do – he had bones protruding from his body.’
Once Zach was stabilised, he was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, and sent straight to theatre.
His numerous injuries included open fractures to the right leg, a fractured spine and ligament damage to the neck.
Once Zach was stabilised, he was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, and sent straight to theatre
Zach will spend the next year in rehabilitation and the schoolboy may need to learn how to grip with his left wrist again, due to tendon damage.
He had to undergo a different surgery every day, over seven days – resulting in an above-the-knee amputation on his right leg.
‘It just got to a point where that leg had no blood supply,’ Maria added. ‘Eventually the doctors said: ‘We’ve tried everything we can, and we’re going to have to amputate. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
‘I’ve never done anything in my life as hard as signing that consent form – but he would’ve died if I hadn’t.’
Two days after his amputation, Zach was taken off his ventilator and began to regain consciousness. His parents waited until he was lucid to explain to him about his leg.
When Maria and ex-partner Chris Farr, 39, told Zach about the amputation, he began ‘begging for his leg back.’
She said: ‘He was begging us for his leg back, and begging to come home. He said: “Please, please, I don’t want to be here.”
‘It wasn’t until yesterday [January 4], that this brave boy asked to see his leg for the first time. He looked at the stump, and he had a cry.
‘But later on, he said: “Right, I’m just going to do this and get on with it,” just like the old Zach.
Zach’s aunt has sent up a JustGiving page to raise funds for her nephew’s rehabilitation and recovery
Doctors aren’t sure how long Zach will be under hospital care for – but his recovery is likely to take months.
As well as rehabilitation on his right leg, Zach may need to learn how to grip with his left wrist again, due to tendon damage.
Zach’s aunt, Shemina Wright, has launched a fundraiser, setting up up a JustGiving page for his recovery.
The crowdfunder has raised £6,203 so far – and will be donated towards accessibility equipment for when he is discharged.
Merseyside Police said in a written statement that they are ‘appealing for a driver to do the right thing and come forward’ and believe the car – which they say displayed a 70 plate – made off in the general direction of Bewley Drive and then towards Valley Road. Enquiries remain ongoing to locate the car and the driver involved.
Detective Sergeant Simon Duffy from Merseyside Police’s Matrix Serious Collision Investigation Unit added: ‘This was a shocking incident which has left a teenage boy with injuries which will impact him for the rest of his life.
‘It is incomprehensible to think that anyone could even consider driving away and leaving the boy with such catastrophic injuries.
‘We remain committed to tracking that person down and anyone who may have assisted following the collision.
Merseyside Police are attempting to locate the driver of the car that did the hit-and-run – and have urged the owner to hand themselves in
‘Our enquiries remain ongoing, and I would make an appeal directly to the driver of the car to consider the feelings of the boy and his family and come forward before we locate you.
‘We are also asking for anyone who was in the Southdene and Westvale areas of Kirkby between 6.00pm and 7.15pm on Sunday 22 December and has dashcam to contact us so that we can review and assess their footage.
‘The vehicle – a grey Honda Civic with a 70 plate – is likely to have significant damage to the front following the collision.
‘We believe the vehicle was in the Sefton and Kirkby areas for at least one week prior to the collision so we would again appeal for anyone who has seen a vehicle like that in the image, to contact us as a matter of urgency. ‘
I would also ask the local community to consider the victim, his family and the risk posed by such a dangerous driver, and if you have any information at all regarding this incident, then please work with us to help identify those responsible for this crime.
‘If you have any information that can help, please contact the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on (0151) 777 5747, or email SCIU@merseyside.police.uk. Alternatively, you can provide us anonymously via @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 24001073245.’
To donate to Zach’s recovery fund visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/shemina-wright?utm-term=w4e3AgJzX
