Disabled man on a walk for rehab run down by Melbourne driver
A disabled man walking for rehabilitation after surgery has been run down and badly injured by a hoon in Melbourne.
Already partially disabled from a workplace accident, Philip Handby was having just his fourth outing since his knee replacement surgery when he was hit by a car.
Mr Handby was attempting to flag down the hoon driver but little did he know it was going to put him back in hospital.
The driver fled the scene of the accident in Cranbourne, leaving his victim screaming in pain on the road.
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"The guy was laying on the ground, had his hand up in the air and he was on the ground screaming," witness Darryl Beardsworth said.
"[He was] in a lot of pain in his leg."
Driving home moments earlier, Mr Beardsworth and Julie Taylor passed the driver as he fled in the opposite direction, close enough to see his face.
"Well he was a bit stressed and he was flying down Monahans Road," Ms Taylor said.
The driver, who witnessed the accident from close behind, chased the car that hit Mr Handby through several streets before taking down the registration number when the car disappeared into the housing estate.
Mr Handby's in Dandenong Hospital and is facing surgery for multiple fractures but is lucky to be alive.
His son Ryan is stunned by the callousness of the hit and run driver.
"It seems quite deliberate because they slowed down and then accelerated through him which is very unfortunate and I can't actually believe it myself - it's actually ridiculous," he said.
Breen's Road in Cranbourne is such a quiet area it has become a haven for teenage hoons.
Police patrol the area regularly but local residents have become so frustrated, sometimes they challenge the drivers themselves.
"He went down the end of the road there and I could see him start revving his car and I was like 'don't you dare', and I was like 'get outta here' and so he took off," Ms Taylor said.
"They're every day, every night, speeding - you can see all the black lines on the road," Mr Beardsworth said.
