A Connecticut man has been charged after police said he struck a teen cyclist and drove with the boy on his car’s roof for several miles before leaving him on Oct. 4.
Alex Joel Rivera, 29, was arrested after allegedly hitting 16-year-old Liam Shields in Avon, WFSB reported.
Law enforcement said they were first informed about debris scattered across the road, where they discovered a damaged bike, candy and a cell phone. When officers arrived, both the cyclist and driver were allegedly missing. A short time later, two witnesses found the injured teenager on the side of the road and called 911, after going to where they claimed they saw a vehicle being driven wildly, according to police.
Police said Shields was carried more than four miles atop the vehicle after it hit him, the outlet reported.
UPDATE: After a driver struck a high schooler in #Avon, his passengers noticed a foot dangling by the driver’s window, according to his arrest warrant. https://t.co/CtZkSNsOtE pic.twitter.com/Oo45D8Ul8E
— WFSB Channel 3 (@WFSBnews) October 8, 2024
The car’s owner, one of three passengers at the time, said she noticed a foot hanging from the driver’s side window and urged Rivera to pull over, according to the arrest warrant, WFSB reported. Rivera allegedly admitted to police he knew he hit the boy but claimed he “freaked out” when he realized Shields was on top of the car and knocked him off. (RELATED: Video Appears To Show SUV Take Out Cyclists, Run One Over)
Rivera said Shields “came out of nowhere” and he thought the boy “rolled off” the car, according to law enforcement.
Shields, a sophomore at Avon High School, is now hospitalized due to serious injury, the outlet reported. The community has rallied around the family and Jenny Eldridge, a close family friend, set up a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $59,000.
“I, along with the rest of our community, were horrified at this blatant disregard for human life,” said Republican Connecticut State Sen. Lisa Seminara. “This person hit the young man and carried him on a car for over 4 miles, and then dumped his body on the side of the road. It was obviously devastating to me and it’s devastating to our entire community.”
Rivera has been charged with two counts of risking injury to a child, as well as endangerment in the first-degree, operating a motor vehicle while not licensed and evading responsibility for causing serious bodily injury, according to the outlet. He remains in custody on $100,000 bail.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
