The emotional toll of an accident
<p>Michael Leake, 20, revisits the crosswalk of Government Way and Honeysuckle Avenue in Hayden where he was struck by a vehicle Sunday around 4:30pm. Leake, diagnosed with autism, was on his way to Walgreens when he was hit by a white pickup. The driver stopped to see if he was OK, but she neglected to call police, or give insurance information, and then left the scene. "She didn't hit a speed bump, she hit a person," said Rosie Leake, Michael's mother who wishes the driver would have been more diligent after hitting her son.</p>
Michael Leake is angry, and he's scared.
The 20-year-old, who has autism, was struck by a vehicle Sunday afternoon as he crossed the intersection at Government Way and Honeysuckle Avenue, not far from his Hayden home.
He wasn't seriously injured, not physically. Leake's hip is deeply bruised and painful. Some skin was scraped from his knee, which is also bruised and swollen.
But there are other wounds that aren't easily seen, emotional ones that can have devastating consequences for a person with autism.
"He keeps asking if he has a right to be angry," said Leake's mother, Rosie.
It's also changed the way he feels about one of his favorite pastimes.
"Michael walks a lot. That's kind of his thing. He loves to go to Walgreens, and now he's really afraid," Rosie said.
And there are other challenges Rosie is facing as she tries to help her son work through what happened.
"He just doesn't understand that sometimes people just don't pay attention," Rosie said.
She said she doesn't understand why the driver of the vehicle, a woman, stopped to see if her son was all right, but then didn't call 911 and didn't stick around.
Rosie said that while her son may not have the cognitive ability to follow through with vehicle accident protocol, all drivers know they need to notify police when there's a collision.
"I don't know if she had been at happy hour," Rosie said.
At the scene, Michael didn't speak to the woman.
"We have done so much work with 'stranger danger.' With autistic kids you have to repeat and repeat and repeat yourself, so he wouldn't tell her his name or number," Rosie said.
Leake called his mother himself after the incident, and Rosie said he could barely speak. He told his mother that the vehicle that hit him was a white truck, with a "honeycomb grill," and the driver was wearing a red shirt.
Rosie said that if her son had been a step farther into the crosswalk, his physical injuries would have been much more serious.
She and her son hope that when people read about what happened, they will be more cautious when driving, and they will "do the right thing" when a crash does occur.
She also hopes people consider that their fellow citizens that they come into contact with may not always have the same intellectual capabilities they do.
"I feel like I want to speak for any parent who has a handicapped or mentally handicapped child," Rosie said. "When you have a child that has any kind of mental disabilities, you want them to have a full life. You want them to be able to be fully integrated into their community. When something like this happens, they become even more reclusive."