Jeff De Luca, 47, now spends his days getting X-Rays, CT scans, and physio in Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital – a consequence of what happened less than two weeks ago. On July 9, at around 7 pm, Halton Police officers were called to Oxford Avenue and Otter Crescent in College Park after reports of a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle.
That evening, De Luca had just finished mowing his lawn when he saw a car "fly down the street; (the driver) must’ve been doing 200 km/h, and I’m not exaggerating."
The driver turned around at the cul-de-sac and started "ripping it" back towards De Luca’s side of the neighbourhood.
Bothered by the reckless driving with families and children hanging around, De Luca decided to step out onto the road, placing himself in the center, with his palm out – motioning the driver to stop.
"I went and stood in the street so he’ll see me and have to stop. When he sees me, he slows down; so, I’m thinking ‘okay, I can talk to him.’ But then he starts bumping me in the knees with his car, telling me to get out of the way. Our neighborhood – it’s all kids and everybody has a dog. He will kill someone driving like that."
De Luca then told the driver to “leave the neighbourhood and never come back.” By this point, the neighbours gathered around and watched the scene.
The driver starts backing up, leaving De Luca to think, "okay, so, he’s going to leave." The driver revved his engine a few times; De Luca confesses, "I didn’t expect him to do anything."
Then, suddenly, "he just let it go."
De Luca flew into the windshield and across the hood; "at least 15 feet in the air, fully vertical," according to a neighbour.
The driver took off.
"Everyone ran to me," De Luca recalls, "and I’m lying there – just stunned. I kept saying, ‘let me get up; at least, let me sit on the curb. And then I realized I couldn’t move."
De Luca was immediately transported to the ICU.
Later that night, the driver returned to the scene and was apprehended by police.
19-year-old Nicolai Tindiris, from Brampton, has been charged with: assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, dangerous operation causing bodily harm, and failure to stop after an accident.
He was held for bail.
The attack hasn’t spared much of De Luca’s body.
"I have lots of cuts and lots of bruises. My lungs, my heart, my liver, and my kidneys are all bruised. I shattered my pelvis – it’s broken in 4 different places. I broke my radius in my left arm. I’ve got broken ribs. I’ve got a fractured spine. I’ve got a concussion."
"They’re going to teach me how to walk again. I can’t walk right now. And if I do walk, whether I’ll be able to walk right."
That uncertainty makes him anxious and depressed. De Luca, a construction business owner, builds custom homes and works with another builder as a project manager; the future of his career deeply worries him.
"I’ve had a few breakdowns," he reveals. "I’m terrified, every minute of every day."
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Any person charged with an offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.