An eight-year-old girl was seriously injured while riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by her father after a car stopped in front of them.
Bella Martinez and her father Enrique were traveling through Commerce City, Colorado, to join her family on Tuesday.
“It was a nice day, so you know, we were going to take a little walk there,” Martinez told the local Fox affiliate. KDVR.
But when they were heading towards their relative’s house, a car stopped in front of them, causing MartÃnez to lose control of the motorcycle. The driver then fled.
“He jumped right in front of us and lost control right there to avoid hitting them and just fell,” he said.
On Tuesday, 8-year-old Bella (left) and her father, Enrique MartÃnez (right), were riding a motorcycle through Commerce City, Colorado, to reunite with their family.
As the father-daughter duo headed towards their relative’s house, a car stopped in front of them, causing Martinez to lose control of the motorcycle.
Her father said his first instinct was to check if his daughter was okay.
“It was hard seeing her like that. I just made sure she was okay and didn’t break anything from the beginning. She was able to stand up. We were walking. But I sat her down right away and she was just really scraped up,” he said.
Bystanders who witnessed the accident rushed to his aid, but the person responsible for the accident was nowhere to be seen.
‘The guy who jumped in front of us, he just left immediately and didn’t even stop. He didn’t brake, nothing. He moved on,” Martinez said.
Martinez’s father lived around the corner from where the accident occurred, so he was able to take Bella to Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she was treated.
“The burn center said she’s on the brink,” said Bernadette Luevano, Bella’s mother. “If they were deeper, I would definitely need skin grafts.”
Her father’s first instinct was to check if his daughter was okay.
Bystanders who witnessed the accident rushed to his aid, but the person responsible for the accident was nowhere to be seen.
Martinez’s father lived around the corner from where the accident occurred, so he was able to take Bella to Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she was treated for burns.
Bella was sent home on Thursday with her wounds bandaged, but will have to return to the hospital weekly to have them treated.
“Right now, we’re taking him to the doctors week after week simply because we don’t want to open up the wounds and get any infection,” Luevano said.
The family is waiting to find out whether or not Bella is a candidate for skin grafts.
‘They will have the burn center look at her again and determine if her skin is healing well enough. If not, you will need skin grafts. Which is…we hope for the best.
The family has created a GoFundMe to help pay medical bills.
Luevano said she had to put her business on hold while she cares for her daughter.
Bella’s mother, Bernadette Luevano (left), said she had to put her business on hold while she cares for her daughter.
The family is waiting to find out whether or not Bella is a candidate for skin transplants.
“I have to cancel and reschedule all my appointments just so I can take proper care of her and give her my full attention,” he said.
The family said they are grateful Bella is alive.
“Thank God I had my helmet on,” Luevano said, “otherwise it could have been a lot worse.”
There are no age restrictions for passengers riding on the back of motorcycles in Colorado.