Local man "lucky to be alive" after Athlone hit and run incident

A local man in his mid-70s said he's lucky to be alive after being struck by a car, which then drove away from the scene, while he was walking home in Athlone on Friday night last.

The 'hit and run' incident happened at Lower Road, Bower View, Athlone at approximately 11.45pm on Friday, July 17.

The victim told the Westmeath Independent he "got an awful fright" and was extremely fortunate to have escaped from the collision with relatively minor injuries.

The car struck him from behind while he was walking on the footpath away from the town.

The man first heard a bang behind him, which he thinks was from the car mounting the footpath and its wing mirror striking the wall of a house.

The collision happened in a split second, but the pedestrian believes he was briefly crushed by the car against the wall of a house and then fell out onto the road after the vehicle had passed him.

He heard the "revving" of the car as it drove away, but didn't get a proper look at the vehicle and doesn't know its make or model.

In the immediate aftermath, the man felt completely numb all along his right side, but he managed to crawl off the road and prop himself up against the windowsill of a house in order to call 999.

Gardai and an ambulance crew attended, and the man underwent a medical assessment at the scene.

Fortunately he didn't sustain any injury to his head and was able to spend the night at home before being taken to Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe for x-rays and other tests on Saturday.

"On my right arm there was a bit of bleeding. My shoulder is very sore, my elbow and wrist is very sore, and my hip is a little bit sore," the man said today (Monday). "I'm miraculously lucky that I wasn't more seriously injured."

A Garda spokesperson in Athlone said it was reviewing footage from the general area around the scene of the collision on Friday night.

While the type of car involved in the hit and run isn't yet known, anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the vicinity of Irishtown, St Mary's Place, Lower Road, Retreat Road or Grace Park Road shortly before midnight on Friday is being asked to contact Athlone Garda Station on 09064 98550.