Teen fighting for his life after Dartmouth crash

A 19-year-old man is in hospital in Halifax with life threatening injuries after being struck by a car while he was crossing the street.

Halifax Regional Police said it happened at about 9 p.m. Monday night at the intersection of Pleasant and Carleton Streets.

Investigators said the teen was walking in a crosswalk when he was struck.

Nancy Hoelke was outside having a cigarette and saw it all.

'It's our killer crosswalk.' —Nancy Hoelke

"I watched several vehicles go by him, one got very close, thought he was going to hit him," she said.

"It looked like he gave him the finger, like he gestured at him, which happens a lot because people don't slow down. You're standing there in the rain waiting to cross and people get upset," she said.

Then as he turned back to look to cross the next vehicle hit him.

"I don't even think he saw the truck coming," Hoelke said.

Witness Dave Doucet said the young man's body landed about 30 metres from the crosswalk, knocking his sneakers off.

"At first I didn't recognize if they were my daughter's sneakers or someone else's kid's."

The 56-year-old driver of the vehicle stopped right away. Police said paramedics were on the scene quickly and the teen was taken to the QEII Hospital.

Hoelke said the driver ran to a pizza restaurant to call 911.

"He was shocked, he never saw a thing.  He didn't even know what he hit until he realized there was a person there."

"It was sad, it was scary," she said.

The accident marks the second incident in that crosswalk this month.

Residents have lobbied local politicians for the past 15 years, demanding improvements. They've seen other accidents and near collisions.

"Everyone's kind of  shook up by it again.  It's our killer crosswalk. No one's actually died. We all joke around that maybe when someone actually dies maybe we'll get lights," said Hoelke.

The city says overhead lights, a flashing signal and push buttons will be installed to improve visibility sometime in December.

Police charged the driver with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.