Howard Wright, 58, director of The Lounge and Bridges, fined after incident in Paradise Point
A Gold Coast bar boss whose Audi knocked a boy, 12, off his e-bike tells him he ran in front of his car as the kid screams ‘why did you hit me?’. WATCH NEW EXTENDED VIDEO
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The boss of two swanky Gold Coast bars has been fined after a 12-year-old boy knocked from his electric dirt bike by the man’s Audi screamed “why did you hit me?” and “I didn’t do anything”.
A shocking video shows the moment the boy was allegedly hit by an Audi A5 driven by hospitality boss Howard Wright while riding his e-bike in Paradise Point on January 6. There is no suggestion the hit was deliberate.
A Gold Coast police spokesman alleged in a statement the man was driving in a “dangerous manner” towards the 12-year-old boy near Salacia Dr and Oceanic Dr around 12pm.
“An Audi A5 is alleged to have been driven in a dangerous manner towards a 12-year-old boy from Paradise Point.
“It is alleged the vehicle struck the boy, knocking him from his bike.”
The video, which appears to have been filmed on a helmet-mounted camera and posted by the 12-year-old boy to Instagram, shows the moment the boy screams “what the f**k” as he watches the Audi A5 speed towards him.
“I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do nothing,” the boy screams while lying on the ground.
Mr Wright - co-director of a company behind The Lounge Bar and Bridges Pizza at Paradise Point - exits the Audi and approaches the boy who says “what the f--k?” and screams repeatedly: “I didn’t do nothing, I didn’t do nothing. I wasn’t even there. Why did you hit me?”
“I know you didn’t do anything,” Mr Wright said. “This bike is illegal.”
The boy then says: “Yeah but why did you hit me?”
Mr Wright replies: “You ran in front of my car. I’m sorry.”
“No,” the boy replies.
Mr Wright says: “I’m Howard, nice to meet you.”
The boy replies: “Nice to meet you too.”
Mr Wright replies: “First of all understand this bike is completely illegal.”
The boy says: “Ah shit. Can you fix my handle bars. F--king hell that hurt.”.
Mr Wright repeats: “This bike is completely illegal first of all.”
The incident sparked enough attention for witnesses to come over, including one lady who said: “He’s just a kid.”
“Sorry? I know he is. They are ringing my doorbell every day,” Mr Wright, 58, replied.
“No I didn’t do it,” the 12-year-old said.
Mr Wright replies: “See the guy over there, with blue hat on - just rang the doorbell. I’m about to go to police from the case from yesterday. If I were you buddy I would vanish off. The police are going to be back here.”
The boy replies: “I’m just a bit confused why you hit, I didn’t do nothing.”
Mr Wright says: “Yeah one of your mates who you are here with ...” before trailing off.
The boy alleges: “I saw you zoom up on me, I have it on film.”
A witness on the video then backs the boy saying: “We saw that.”
Mr Wright said: “They are terrorising this neighbourhood.”
A different witness told Mr Wright: “He’s just a kid you could have seriously hurt him.”
The boy replied: “He did.”
The witness then turned to the boy and said: “I don’t know what you’re doing.”
Mr Wright said: “We’ve got kids every single day..” before he trails off and tells the witnesses that he went to the police the day before.
The boy said: “How do you know it was me, I didn’t do nothing. I’m just riding around and I get hit.”
Mr Wright replies: “You’re on the camera outside my house.”
The boy said: “But that wasn’t me.”
Mr Wright confirms: “It wasn’t you that rang the doorbell.”
“Why did you hit me then,” the boy said.
“You hit me going at 30km/h c**t.”
A Gold Coast police spokesman said Mr Wright left the scene after and attended the Runaway Bay Police Station shortly after the incident and was issued an Infringement Notice for driving without care and attention.
The Gold Coast Bulletin has attempted to contact Mr Wright and the young cyclist for comment.
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