Family of 10-year-old killed in car crash sue Mississauga driver and City of Vaughan
Published November 4, 2021 at 2:01 pm
The family of Nikita Belykh say the young girl’s death was “entirely preventable” and are suing the City of Vaughan and a Mississauga woman for negligence and distracted driving.
In a release, the Belykh family say 10-year-old Nikita was riding her bike home after swimming with a friend at the North Thornhill Community Centre on the morning of Sept. 1 shortly before 11 a.m.
She was cycling northbound along the sidewalk of Pleasant Ridge Ave. when a driver exiting the community centre “made a sudden turn” colliding into Nikita, the family said.
York Regional Police have said that when first responders arrived on the scene they found the driver of a white Hyundai Santa Fe had collided with the girl.
The child was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died the next day.
The Belykh family announced on Thursday they are suing the City of Vaughan and driver involved in the crash for $7.5 million in damages.
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“We could not stay silent after too many young people, including our little girl, lost their lives in vehicle collisions in the GTA over the past few months,” said Nikita’s father Mike Belykh. “No parent should have to endure such a terrible loss.”
According to a Statement of Claim, the family alleges the driver was “distracted” and “travelling too fast.”
The suit also negligence on the part of the city for failing to respond to public complaints “about signage that blocks part of the road and sidewalk at the community centre.”
Michael Smitiuch, the lawyer representing the Belykh family, called Nikita’s death a “senseless tragedy.”
Thanh Loan Nguyen has been charged with one count of Careless Driving Causing Death in the crash.
She is scheduled to appear in court in Newmarket on Feb. 3, 2022.
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