POLICE are urging people with dashcam footage of an incident which saw a young boy hit by a car to come forward urgently.
Seven-year-old Freddie-John Winter was making his way home alongside his brother Kaiden, 11, after doing a quick shop at Tesco Express in Dovercourt on November 20 when he was hit.
Freddie-John travelled on his scooter and approached a zebra crossing on Main Road when he was struck by a car.
CCTV footage, which was obtained by the boy’s mum Francesca Louise Torpey, shows a car can be seen leaving the nearby roundabout before hitting Freddie-John just as he enters the road.
Essex Police initially told the Standard Freddie-John had suffered a head injury which was not serious or life-threatening.
The force is now appealing to the public for any information or dashcam footage that may help with their inquiries.
A spokesman said: “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision in Oakley Road, Dovercourt, at about 5.15 pm on Monday November 20.
“At the scene, we found a boy had sustained serious injuries and was left in the care of the ambulance service.
“We believe the vehicle involved was a silver Kia Carens.
“If you have any information or video footage that will help with our enquiries, please get in touch quoting incident number 849 of Monday November 20.”
Freddie-John's mother Francesca said she was relieved that police were intensifying their efforts to find the driver.
She said: “I want them to be brought to justice, I want justice for my boy.
“Hopefully they will get what they deserve.”
The incident was first dropped by Essex Police due to a lack of evidence, but Francesca went out of her way to find material that captured the incident.
“It had to take me to go and get the video and watch it over and over again, something I didn’t want to watch anyway because it was my child,” she said.
“It shouldn’t have been me, the police should have gone.”
According to Francesca, an ambulance which was headed to another incident in Clacton saw her son on the ground and immediately stopped to help the young boy.
He was taken to hospital, where he was treated for four nights recovering from the injuries he had suffered.
These included three head injuries, a broken nose, cuts and bruises as well as leaving him in need of major eye surgery.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here