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One family's weekend stroll at East Coast Park (ECP) on Sunday (Jun. 25) ended with fractures, abrasions and a trip to the hospital after a collision with a cyclist.

Although the cyclist apologised profusely and provided two contact numbers for the family to follow up with, they later discovered that both numbers do not work.

The family is now appealing for witnesses via social media in order to get in touch with the cyclist.

What happened

An account of what transpired was shared to Facebook group SG PCN Cyclist on Jun. 27 by user Andrew Foo, 36, whose wife and daughter were injured in the incident.

Foo's wife, Jodi Lai, 35, also spoke to Mothership to share about the incident.

Foo and Lai, together with their four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, were on their way home by foot after their lunch at East Coast Lagoon Food Village.

The four of them were on the "extreme left" of the shared path near East Coast Lagoon Food Village, heading towards the direction of Singapore Wake Park, Foo shared in his post.

"As that is a merging lane, we were very careful and ensured we kept to the extreme left — we were walking in a single file with me at the front, followed by my son, and my husband and daughter walking side by side," Lai recounted.

What came after happened almost in a flash. Lai said:

"As my son was still drinking from a takeaway cup, I wanted to retrieve the cup from him so that I could keep it in my bag. However, when I turned around, even before I could open my mouth to say anything, I caught a quick glimpse of the cyclist at a high speed looking up from the side of his bike but it was too late."

Lai was hit in the face, which caused her glasses to fly off.

She was also thrown backwards and landed on her buttocks.

The momentum of the fall caused her to land on her back and hit her head on the ground.

The impact fractured her tailbone.

Though in pain herself, Lai's first thought was the safety of her daughter.

She scurried to find her glasses, got herself off the ground, and went to comfort their daughter.

"There was simply no reaction time for me to grab my daughter to avoid the collision," Lai said.

Wife and daughter sent to hospital

Foo wrote in his post that their two-year-old daughter "fell face front", leaving her with abrasions on her face and limbs.

The cyclist himself also sustained some abrasions to his limbs.

Following the incident, Foo rushed home to retrieve their car and sent the injured mother-daughter pair to the nearby Parkway East Hospital for treatment.

Lai was put through CT scans on her head and neck, as well as an x-ray for her lower back.

Her daughter was treated for her wounds, and both spent two nights at the hospital.

Foo and his four-year-old son emerged unscathed from the incident.

Cyclist appeared sincere

Before heading off to retrieve their car after the collision, Foo attempted to get the contact details of the cyclist.

The cyclist told Foo that his name was "George", and that he was British.

According to Foo, "George" appeared to be in his 20s, had blonde hair and was about 1.75m to 1.8m in height.

"The culprit apologised profusely and said that the injuries wouldn't be too serious," Foo wrote in the post.

"George" provided two numbers — a local number and a UK number.

Foo noted that "George" appeared "sincere in wanting to take responsibility".

"He even corrected me when I keyed in his UK number incorrectly which made the situation even more convincing," Foo highlighted.

As his focus immediately after the incident was to get medical attention for his family, Foo took the cyclist at his word.

However, when Foo tried to reach "George" via both numbers, he found out that the local number "is never turned on" while the UK number is invalid.

Lai shared that her husband attempted to call "George" at the numbers he provided "over 10 times but to no avail".

Mothership tried to call the local number but was met with an automated response from Singtel stating that the customer was not available.

Appealing for witnesses, police report lodged

Foo has since made a police report, and said he was told by the police that this is a case of rash act or negligence.

Police confirmed with Mothership that a report was lodged and shared that investigations are ongoing.

Foo appealed in his post for witnesses in hopes of expediting the investigations.

He shared that the cyclist was cycling on a road bike with a fellow male cyclist. Both are young Caucasians and were topless and wearing dark-coloured shorts.

Foo also addressed the cyclist directly in his post: "If you are the culprit, man up and take responsibility for your actions."

Members of the public with any information can contact Foo via his mobile number, as stated in his Facebook post here.

Lai shared that her recovery will take around three to six months, as advised by her doctor.

At the moment, she experiences pain whenever she sits for prolonged periods. She also feels an "intense sharp pain" whenever she "bends down or change[s] positions".

Meanwhile, their two-year-old daughter is apparently still "traumatised" by the incident.

"Since the accident, whenever I'm around, she refuses to let me out of her sight, even at home she follows me around, expects me to constantly sit next to her and drags me along when she moves around the house," Lai said.

Lai pointed out that the two-year-old is also "talking less and appears more irritable"

NParks in touch with family

Some Facebook users suggested that the design at the particular stretch of the ECP makes incidents more likely, as the pedestrian lane merges with the park connector.

In response to queries from Mothership, Sophianne Araib, Group Director (Parks) at National Parks Board (NParks), shared that they are aware of the incident at ECP involving a cyclist and a family on Jun. 25.

"We are in touch with the family to offer assistance as needed," Araib shared.

Araib added that the incident took place along a shared path of the park connector at ECP, which is indicated by signage at both ends of the path.

"We strongly urge all users of parks and park connectors to be considerate and practise good park user etiquette, such as looking out for other park users. Cyclists and personal mobility device users should slow down and give way to pedestrians. This will help to ensure a pleasant park experience for everyone."

Lai confirmed that NParks has reached out to the family.

According to Lai, NParks shared that they will provide the police with CCTV footage if it is requested for.

Lai also suggested how the park design can be improved.

"My husband shared that pathways for pedestrians and cyclists should be properly demarcated and not shared, similar to how roads and pedestrian pathways are separated. He also mentioned that more CCTVs should be in place along pathways to better capture accidents/incidents between cyclists and pedestrians, especially when cyclists do not have any license plates like vehicles."

Top image via Andrew Foo/Facebook