Queen’s professor victim of hit-and-run

Tony Noble asks that those at fault learn from their mistakes

Noble suffered a serious concussion
Image supplied by: Supplied by Tony Noble
Noble suffered serious injuries due to the hit-and-run incident.

Battling through a serious concussion, face lacerations and roughly 30 stitches across his face and eye, Queen’s professor Tony Noble only asks that those at fault learn from their mistakes. 

At 4:10 p.m. on July 30, Noble — a physics professor at Queen’s — was biking home from work when he fell victim to a hit-and-run.

The collision occurred at the intersection of Johnson and College Streets. Noble said he’d slowed to a near stop in the northbound lane of College. Though he didn’t see the vehicle coming, Noble relayed the information he’s since learned about the accident.

“One of the cars [on Johnson] pulled out into the left lane, gunned it and passed a couple of cars and a dump truck,” he said.

According to Noble, the vehicle cut back into the right-hand lane on Johnson, and moved to turn onto College. However, they were travelling too quickly to make the turn. Instead, they entered Noble’s northbound lane and collided with his bicycle.

“I was almost stopped, so I had no momentum to swerve or anything. The car was just right in front of me and that’s the last thing I remember,” Noble said.

Noble couldn’t describe the individuals in the car — which Kingston Police (KP) have described as a “blue compact vehicle”, potentially damaged on the front end — but he remembers at least two people in the vehicle.

Witnesses at the scene described the driver and passengers to police as “kids”. The vehicle sped southbound on College towards Union St., where the witnesses who rushed to Noble’s aid following the collision last saw it. 

While Noble said police suspect that intoxicated driving was a factor in the accident, Steve Koopman, KP media relations officer, said the idea is merely speculation.

“There is no direct evidence the incident may have involved drunk driving or drugs,” Koopman stated in an email to The Journal.

“If the victim heard this from the officer or officers involved, these would have simply been possibilities being mentioned and purely hypothetical.”

Kingston Police consider the case “open”, and it’s currently under investigation by Const. Bryan McMillan, although they haven’t received any credible tips to date.

Luckily, Noble’s wife was 10 minutes behind him on their commute home. She’d begun to drive around the accident when she recognized her husband’s footwear.

“She recognized my sneakers sticking out of the pile,” Noble said. “She didn’t recognize my face, but she recognized my sneakers.”

First response teams took Noble from the scene of the accident to Kingston General Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.

“My face took the main impact against the car, apparently,” Noble explained. This left the professor with a serious concussion and a host of other injuries.

Noble has been medically advised that his eyebrow will have to be tattooed back on due to the skin lost in the accident. Lacerations across his face left his eyelid split open and his nose broken.

“When I came out of the hospital my nose was 10 times bigger than it is now, pushed to one side, and my whole face was swollen like a beach ball,” he said.

Noble isn’t angry with the people who hit him, but he said he was deeply upset by the reckless driving, especially in the vicinity of several schools.

“If I had been a kid, or a person who had their feet on the ground, I’m positive [I] would not have survived.”

However, Noble doesn’t want to convict the driver who hit him. He said he only wants the young driver and passengers to reflect on their actions and prevent future accidents.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Const. Bryan McMillan at 613-549-4660, ext. 6343, or by email at bmcmillan@kpf.ca.

Tags

crime, cycling, hit and run, University District

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content