Hackney cyclist speaks of horror crash which he thought may leave him paralysed
Police at the scene of an accident involving a male cyclist in Mare Street, Hackney Central. - Credit: Archant
A cyclist who came off his bike in a collision with a car last week has spoken of his horror when he thought he was paralysed.
Richard Dacosta Smith - Credit: xxS
Richard Dacosta-Smith was in collision with a car in Mare Street, Hackney Central on Friday night.
The 31-year old was headed south on his way to see his uncle when the accident happened as the lights turned green at the traffic lights and the vehicles began moving.
“I didn’t know what’s going on, I was in so much shock I couldn’t move,” said Mr Dacosta-Smith who lives in Hackney Downs and has four children aged 10, eight, five and six months.
“I couldn’t feel my legs or my lower back for about an hour, all that was going through my head was am I going to live.”
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He added: “I was crying because I didn’t have any feelings in my legs, I thought I would be paralysed from the waist down, a lot of thoughts were going through my head.
“I was cold, I was shivering, I didn’t have any clothes on because they cut them off.”
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Thankfully the feeling in his legs came back slowly and he returned home that evening.
“I could start to feel my toes and wiggle them, I was glad when the feeling came back, but now my left knee is damaged, I have a bruised spine, my neck and my back and my legs are hurting,” he said.
“My thoughts now are that I can’t work at the moment and also I have an enlarged heart, it could be because of the impact of the car, the doctors don’t know what it means until they take blood tests.”
A police spokesman confirmed that no charges had been laid against the driver.
Last night a woman cyclist trapped under a car after a collision in Spitalfields was freed by a group of 10 men who lifted the VW Golf off her and turned it on its side.
One cyclist died today after being hit by a bus in Croydon, and another was hurt last week in a collision with a double decker on a cycle superhighway.
