A boy is fighting for his life after he was hit by a Florida police cruiser while riding his dirt bike.
Eight-year-old Gerard Butler was riding his dirt bike Monday night when an officer leaving the scene of a call hit him at the intersection of 23rd Street and Maple Avenue.
The officer yelled ‘oh, fuck!’ When he realized what he had done, harrowing body camera footage was revealed.
He was flown to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, ABC7 reported, suffering various serious injuries.
Gerard’s mother, Regina Sanders, said WTSP her son underwent two brain surgeries and a knee operation. Until Wednesday, he was waiting to undergo jaw surgery.
Shocking body camera footage showed a Sarasota police officer performing life-saving measures on 8-year-old Gerard Butler after another officer hit him with a police car.
The eight-year-old boy’s dirt bike ended up under the police car after being hit
Just a moment after the accident, horrified community members and family members ran frantically toward the child, who lay limp and unconscious on the ground.
‘That’s my nephew!’ one man shouted as chaos unfolded.
More officers attended the scene to take life-saving measures before taking Gerard to an ambulance.
On Thursday, he told ABC7 Since the accident the only thing Gerard has done is cough and move his legs slightly.
The heartbroken mother believes the officer was speeding when he hit her son.
Gerard was crossing an intersection on his dirt bike when the officer hit him.
Footage from another body camera showed the boy riding his motorcycle down the street before being hit by a police car.
She told WTSP: ‘The cops you just see them flying at least 60 miles and they don’t care about the stop signs they just fly down the roads.
‘The police teach us not to speed in residential areas. They have speed limits on the side of the roads for a reason. Whether he received a call or not, he didn’t have to go so fast.
The Sarasota Police Department released a statement and body camera footage on Wednesday.
Chief Rex Troche said the police department is working with the Florida Highway Patrol to investigate the crash. He stated that the department is committed to transparency.
The speed at which the officer was driving has not been confirmed.
During the investigation, the officer was placed on restrictive administrative duties.
Panicked family members and community members ran toward Gerard when the officer jumped out of the patrol car.
More police arrived at the scene as terrified witnesses screamed.
“Our thoughts are with the boy and his family,” Troche said.
The department said the officer was uninjured but was “shaken” by the incident.
Sanders told WTSP that the dirt bike was Gerard’s early birthday gift and he only received it days before the near-fatal accident.
Gerard was heading home when he was hit because he feared police activity in the area, he added.
Chief Rex Troche released a statement regarding the incident along with the body camera footage.
“I was inside and I heard something scraping and then you see the little minibike there,” he added.
While his son remains in the hospital, Sanders told ABC7 that he’s “just trying to be strong” for his other two children.
“I’ve never been through anything like this before,” the mother said.
