Dirt bike hoons leave Geelong man with broken ribs after hit-and-run
Hoons riding illegal dirt bikes down a Geelong street have run a man down and left him for dead.
65-year-old Michael Edwards is lucky to be alive after two men on dirt bikes knocked him down and left him lying on the footpath.
The hit-and-run took place in the suburb of Norlane and Mr Edwards said things would have been worse if he hadn’t attempted to jump out of the way.
“I jumped, I jumped out the road, next thing I've gone, he's collected me with the front wheel,” he told 7 News.
"I was pretty scared, you know I've gone down, couldn't get back up.”
He was left with two broken ribs, extensive grazing all over his body and a deep gash in his arm.
He underwent surgery on Thursday and said the pain is ‘terrible’.
“I can hardly breathe. I have to take short breaths.”
He likened the incident to a coward’s punch saying: “Like being in a one punch, it’ll kill you.”
The dirt bikes were speeding down a footpath and skid marks left behind show the moment Mr Edwards was struck.
“You can clearly see the bike track that has crossed the nature strip and then it's struck the pedestrian,” Acting Sergeant Shane Dignan said.
Police said the illegal bikes are a significant problem and fear next time, the victim may be seriously injured or even killed.
Residents are fed up with the hooning, telling 7 News the noisy bikes can be heard regularly.
“I heard them last night and it was around about what I thought was around about quarter to twelve,” resident Brendon Collins said.
"It's quite a normal thing, most nights or every few nights you hear them,” local woman Kerry Sanders said.
Police said they have been inundated with complaints about motorbikes.
“We're getting constant reports of people on motorbikes, dirt bikes, monkey bikes and they just scant regard for the law, they just hoon around as they please," Act Sgt Dignan said.
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News break – January 21
